Spirits' Creed
by Uatu
Summary: It is a time of fear, a time of war. Where all hope is lost. With the spirits losing faith in the Avatar, the only hope of ending the bloodshed lies in the hands of history's most notorious killers. They are the Champions and that is their creed.
1. No Longer Holding Back

**Spirit of Fire**

**Chapter 1: No longer holding back**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender**

**BETA read by: Waterbender-Katara**

* * *

Zuko, banished crown prince of the Fire Nation, disgrace of the royal family, hunter of the Avatar, and many more titles that meant nothing to the young prince at the moment; for nothing made sense anymore. Every day of his young life, for as long as he could remember, he did everything he thought was best for the Fire Nation. Things that, he thought, would please his father.

Sadly, it wasn't meant to be. His mother had vanished when he was young, his father fought him in an Agni Kai which resulted in the scarring of the left side of his face, he lost his honor and was banished, and now he was a wanted man in his own nation.

So here he was, on his knees, on top of a mountain peak, letting out his anguish; for not even nature itself would acknowledge him and strike its lightning at him. If only someone could hear him.

"Oh you poor little human," spoke a voice from behind Zuko.

Zuko's eyes widened in surprise at hearing a voice from behind him, as there shouldn't have been anyone on the mountain. Heck, even he shouldn't be on the mountain. But he was, and now some fool was mocking him. Intending to teach his mocker a lesson, through pain, Zuko whirled around to face the speaker.

The moment he turned around, Zuko froze. In front of him wasn't a person, but a spirit. The most obvious fact was that it was hovering, a couple of feet above the ground, had a glowing aura, and its skin was blue with white marking cascading and crisscrossing down its body. There were also other noticeable similarities between the figure in front of him and a person; it had a humanoid form, slender hips and dainty feet, a surprising large chest, which indicated that the spirit was female, and long wavy red hair. Add the fact, that her face resembled a certain mask of his, and Zuko was well on his way to freaking out.

"Who are you?" Zuko finally asked after a moment of staring and trying to not go in shock.

"I am Aoihi, the Spirit of Fire. Otherwise known as the blue spirit," replied Aoihi.

Upon hearing the spirit introduce herself, Zuko's eyes widened in slight fear. '_I really hope she isn't here about me using her name with that mask of mine,_' the young prince thought to himself.

"I've seen you wandering around the Earth Kingdom doing robberies while using my name as an alias. You even went a step further and used a mask to hide your face that looks like mine," commented Aoihi.

At that statement, Zuko began to fear for his life. After all, it wasn't good to cross one of the rumored Elder Spirits.

"However, that is _not_ why I'm appearing before you," continued Aoihi, not even acknowledging Zuko's fear.

"Why are you here, then?" asked Zuko. From the stories his uncle had told him, spirits never appeared to a human without a reason.

"Since this war you humans started, there has been an imbalance. For the most part, the Avatar has been charged with fixing this imbalance. However, there are certain parts of the imbalance that even the Avatar cannot fix. After years of debating with the spirits of Air, Water, and Earth, I've finally been allowed to correct these parts of the imbalance," Aoihi stated to the young prince.

"What does that have to do with me?" Zuko asked curiously, as there was no imbalance that he knew of.

"Since, I'm not able to correct the imbalance directly, I must choose a champion for me," Aoihi explained. "I've chosen you as my champion."

"What is this imbalance that you speak of?"

"The imbalance is the Fire Nation itself," Aoihi answered coldly. "The people of the Fire Nation have twisted and perverted the true ways of fire bending, they are now nothing more than warmongering and bloodlust fools, and the nation has the rest of the world gripped in fear due to this war."

"This war is our way of sharing the greatness of the Fire Nation with the rest of the world," Zuko responded; trying to defend his country.

Aoihi's eyes widened slightly in shock at what Zuko had said. She blinked her eyes briefly; right before she exploded, both literarily and figuratively. "WHAT? YOU THINK THIS WAR IS A GOOD WAY FOR YOUR NATION TO SHARE ITS GREATNESS??" Gone was her blue skin, as bright hot red flames erupted from her body. The heat she was emitting was at such a force that the rain that had been falling was evaporated; now leaving the air and ground both hot and dry.

Zuko was truly afraid for his life upon seeing the spirit's response to his statement. He hadn't been expecting this kind of reply to his cries at the storm.

"THE REST OF THE WORLD DOES NOT RESPECT YOU OR ADMIRE YOU. THEY FEAR AND HATE YOU. THOUSANDS OF THOUSANDS OF PRAYERS ARE OFFERED UP THAT THE FIRE NATION WILL BE DESTROYED; AND YOU HAVE THE GALL TO SAY THAT WHAT THE FIRE NATION IS DOING IS GOOD?" Aoihi breathed loud and deep. '_Very well then, let's see how he likes this,_' the spirit thought to herself.

Aoihi calmed herself down, forcing the flames and the heat to disappear into the air, and stared intently at the young prince. She raised her right hand, facing her palm towards the sky, and made a small pure white flame appear in her hand.

"Since you believe so strongly in your nation's views on the war, lets us see how you take the rest of the world's opinion on the war," spoke Aoihi in a cool soft voice. But, the look in her eyes promised pain. The flame in her hand shot forward, straight towards Zuko's chest.

Zuko braced himself for the impact of the flame, by squeezing his eyes shut and covering his face with his arms, but felt nothing. Slowly, he opened his eyes; realizing that he hadn't been hit. He looked at his arms and shirt and saw no scorch marks. It took effort to burn a fire bender's skin, but clothes burned just as easily.

Seeing that he hadn't been hit, Zuko turned his gaze back to Aoihi. At that moment it struck him. The pain; the unimaginable inferno of pain that was exploding inside of him. Zuko fell to his knees in agony and through bleary, pain filled eyes, he saw that he wasn't on fire; even though, he felt like he was being burned alive.

'_Let's see how you handle the world's pain, Crown Prince Zuko_,' Aoihi thought to herself as Zuko began to scream, in agony, from the pain.

Trapped within the recesses of his mind, Zuko was unable to escape what he was seeing and feeling. He heard the dying screams of the Air Nomads during the Airbender Genocide. He felt as though he was being worn away like the Southern Water Tribe had been worn away to nothing more than a small hovel of a village. His flesh felt like it was being burned, like the Earth Kingdom villages spread throughout the countryside.

Through it all, Zuko could feel the dark, twisted glee that the Fire Nation took in all of the death and destruction. It wasn't right, everything, everything was wrong. All of it had to end.

Suddenly, the pain was gone and Zuko's vision began to clear, but the effects still lingered on his soul and mind. As quickly as he could, in his weakened state, perched himself up on his elbows and proceeded to throw up. After emptying his stomach, he turned back to Aoihi and asked in a weakened voice, "What was that?"

"That was a piece of spirit fire. What you experienced was what the rest of the world's view of the Fire Nation and the Fire Nation's reveling in the war," Aoihi explained to him.

For a few minutes, Aoihi looked down at the prince as the young man's views of his country's beliefs crushed around him. For not even he could defend his nation's part in the war. She then asked, "Well, now what do you think of your nation's _sharing_?"

"It is madness," Zuko replied in a hollowed voice. Turning his gaze up at Aoihi he asked, "How do you plan to fix this?"

"That, young prince, is where you come in," Aoihi began with a slight smirk adorning her mouth, showing more of her pearly what fangs. She then continued saying, "Since, I cannot correct this imbalance myself; I must choose someone to correct it for me. You are the one I've picked, Crown Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation."

"Why me?"

"Who better that the nation's own prince? It will be a long, hard, and difficult road for you. However, I'll be giving you help and should you be successful, you will be greatly rewarded," Aoihi answered Zuko.

"How can you help me?" Zuko asked curiously, standing back on his feet.

In response to his question, Aoihi formed another small flame of white fire in her hand and shot it forth at Zuko once more. The young prince braced for the hit and once again felt nothing. After a moment of waiting, to see if he would be in pain, he looked back up at Aoihi for an explanation. "Yes, that was spirit fire," Aoihi began her explanation. She continued saying, "That flame is filled with knowledge on _proper_ firebending, the many uses for different flames, and lost firebending techniques. You must mediate to learn this knowledge. I'll also help you by having others join you, though they'll be joining you later."

"Who? Who will be joining me?" Zuko asked.

"The champions of the other elements will be joining you, as the champion of fire," Aoihi told him. "You will know the other champions in due time."

"How am I to correct the imbalance?" Zuko asked.

Zuko's eyes widened in surprise as images of what Aoihi wanted filled his mind. "You can't be serious!" he shouted after the images left his mind.

"Oh, I'm afraid that I'm completely serious on that," replied Aoihi. "For if you don't I'll remove the existence of every firebender."

Zuko knew this spirit could do it, as she represented the element of fire. Sighing to himself and said, "Alright. Now how do I access this knowledge?"

"For that, you will just simply need to mediate," Aoihi replied.

"Is that all?"

"The only thing left is for you to accept it," Aoihi said as her feet touched the ground, standing directly in front of Zuko with her hand extended to him.

"I accept," Zuko said after a moment and shook the spirit's hand. As he was shaking her hand, Zuko felt his left eye's vision go black as he lost his sight in the eye.

Before he could speak, Aoihi spoke saying, "Since you've accepted to be my champion, you will bear my mark." She then summoned a small mirror for Zuko to see the change.

When his vision returned, Zuko looked at the mirror and saw that his once golden eye was now red like Aoihi's eyes. (**A/N: Only the left eye is red. The right eye is still golden.**)

"Now, be on your way, Prince Zuko. You have much to do," Aoihi spoke as she began to fade back to the spirit world.

After watching Aoihi fade back into the spirit world, Zuko looked up and the sky and said, sighing, "Me and my big, fat, mouth." With a shake of his head, Zuko began the long trek down the mountain side and back to his uncle.

* * *

Aoihi opened her eyes as she returned to her room in the spirit world. She, along with the other higher elemental spirits, made their residence in a somewhat palace shaped building in the spirit world. It was there that the four of them would determine the next Avatar and judge humans who had passed on.

Aoihi stepped out of her room and proceeded to make her way to what was effectively the library for the elementals. The library wasn't grand like Wan Shi Tong's Library of Knowledge, but it did hold far more complete volumes of books that went in to greater detail about whatever subject a person wished to know. Aoihi pushed on the large wooden door and stepped inside.

"I see that you're back," spoke a watery sounding voice from the side. Aoihi turned her head to see her opposite element spirit sitting at a nearby table close to the door. The spirit was named, Akaimizu, and she was the spirit of water. Akaimizu looked a lot like Aoihi; the major difference was the color spectrum. Where Aoihi was blue, Akaimizu was red and Aoihi's white tribal markings were black on Akaimizu. Like Aoihi, Akaimizu's eyes were the same color as her element; red for Aoihi and dark blue for Akaimizu. Their hair was also a major difference between the two women. Aoihi had long, wavy, red hair; while Akaimizu had short, straight, blue hair.

"Yes, I'm back. I just returned a few minutes ago," Aoihi replied.

"Do you think it is wise to choose the great-grandson of Avatar Roku as your champion?" Akaimizu, asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Yes," replied Aoihi firmly. "Change needs to come and having him as one of the champions is going to help do that. Besides, what of your chosen champion?"

"I've already informed them that they'll be going back," Akaimizu answered her counterpart.

"Picking that one as your champion is really going to shake things up in the physical world, you know that right?"

"Yes, well, I've always loved dramatic plot twists."

Shaking her head, Aoihi walked away and began her search for a good book on dragons.

* * *

Iroh, former general of the Fire Nation Army, Prince of the Fire Nation, and Dragon of the West, was patiently waiting for his young nephew to arrive back from wherever he had gone to blow off some steam. He was soon rewarded with the sound of crunching dried grass as Zuko approached.

As his nephew carefully opened the door, Iroh called out, saying, "You have been gone for some time nephew. I was starting to get worried."

After hearing no sarcastic remarks coming from his nephew, Iroh was really starting to get worried. After all, Zuko without a snappy comeback was a reason to be concerned. Okay, so maybe snappy wasn't the right word, but still a comeback of some sort.

All Zuko did was just walk forward into the light of the fire; giving Iroh a good view of his face. The former general gasped at what he saw. Many things he had seen in his life, but never before had he seen anything like this. Gone was the boy's golden iris of his left eye and replaced with one of crimson blood.

"Uncle," Zuko spoke, "what can you tell me about elder spirits?"

"Zuko, what did you do?" Iroh asked.

Zuko then proceeded to tell his uncle everything. After several minutes of talking, Zuko finally finished his tale.

Iroh stared at his nephew with a look of disbelief on his face. Quickly, he gathered his wits about him and said, "Zuko, do you have any idea what this means?"

"No. Why? Do you know something?"

"Actually, I don't. The last known recording of an elder spirit contacting a human on the physical world was over fifteen hundred years ago," Iroh answered, thinking back to his university days.

Zuko's eyes widened in shock; fifteen hundred years separated him from the last know human to have contact with an elder spirit, he had not seen that coming. Well, so much for history being of any help. It was time to do what he did best in a situation like this, ask uncle Iroh for advice. "What do you think on all of this, Uncle?"

"Honestly, Nephew? I think it was very foolish of you to do this," Iroh replied.

Zuko shot his uncle a deadpanned glare.

"However," Iroh said, continuing, "What's done is done. It will be a few days until I'll be up to traveling. Until then, you need to practice meditating to start learning these things on firebending that Aoihi has given you. But for now, it's late, so we should get some sleep."

As Zuko made his way over to where he had placed his simple futon, he spoke, asking, "Uncle, do you think the spirit could carry out her threat?"

"The one of killing all firebenders, should you fail? Of course I do. A normal spirit is strong enough against benders and non-benders alike. Remember, what the ocean spirit did at the Northern Water Tribe? The ocean spirit is not an elder spirit, so I imagine they could do much worse," Iroh explained as he recalled the memories of nearly a month ago at the Northern Water Tribe.

With that thought in mind, Zuko laid his head down and closed his eyes. Soon he was embraced by a heavy sleep.

* * *

Far away from Zuko and Iroh slept four young friends with a large beast and a smaller beast. One of the friends was a young boy who wore long ago colors of orange and yellow that marked him as the last of the Air Nomads. The boy was named, Aang and more importantly he was the Avatar.

Aang, Aang!" came a soft elderly voice.

Aang slowly opened his sleepy eyes to see his former life, Avatar Roku, floating in all his blue aura glory.

"Roku, Its good to see you," said Aang as he sat up more.

"Thank you, young Aang. However, I'm here on important business," replied the past avatar.

"What's up, Roku?"

"Something I thought would never happen. The elder elemental spirits are choosing champions."

"Elder elemental spirits? Who are they?" Aang asked curiously, having never heard of them before.

"They are part of the spirits that govern over the spirit world. They're also the ones who decide who the next Avatar will be," Roku replied.

"Okay, so what are these champions you mentioned?"

"The elder spirits can choose a champion to do their bidding for them. All of them are immensely strong and gifted in the bending arts."

"Okay, so are they here to help in the war?"

"That's just it, I don't know. I came to inform you because the last time a champion was chosen by one of the elder spirits, it was to kill the current avatar and the champion was successful." Roku spoke in a grim voice.

"KILL THE AVATAR?" Aang shouted. "Why would they do that?"

"I don't know. I've never been allowed entrance into the higher plains of spirit world. In fact, hardly any Avatar has."

"So, how did these champions kill the Avatar?"

"It wasn't champions who killed the avatar, young Aang. It was champion; one person that killed the Avatar." Roku answerd.

"Hold on, you just said that the elders are choosing champions," Aang shot back

"Yes. This time, they're picking more than one. The elder spirits have picked three champions."

"THREE?"

"That is correct," Roku replied. Seeing the current Avatar's stress, he continued saying, "This is not all bad news though."

"What's not bad about it?"

"We don't know that they are being chosen to kill you. I'll inform you as soon as I learn more. I just thought it best to inform you," spoke Roku as he faded into nothing.

With a wary feeling, Aang laid his head back down and eventually fell asleep.

**

* * *

Next Chapter: Firebending 101 for Angsty Teens**

**That's it for the first chapter. I hope you've enjoyed the start of this epic journey with me. Please review and tell me what you think. Also, yes this story is AU and it'll have a few OCs in it too.**


	2. Firebending 101, for Angsty Teens

**Spirit of Fire**

**Chapter 2: Firebending 101, for Angsty Teens**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender**

**BETA read by: Waterbender-Katara and LinaStar**

* * *

Far north, on what many would consider to be the top of the world, stood the vast Northern Water Tribe. This tribe was led by Chief Arnook, who had been chief for over 25 years. At the moment, the chief was in the council room of the Chief's Temple having an important meeting with the Northern Water Tribe council on the help that they had been sending their sister tribe, the Southern Water Tribe. Along with Chief Arnook, there was the Northern Water Tribe's Head Waterbending Master Pakku, Head Healer Yugoda, and Head of the Merchant Guild Shoda. Guarding the doorway were Hahn and a new Water Tribe soldier by the name of Yoki.

As the three council members were finishing their meeting with Chief Arnook, a bright flash filled the room; causing them to shield their eyes. When the light dimmed and everyone regained their vision, they gasped at the sight before them.

Floating just a couple of feet above the floor was a humanoid, red skinned, female spirit; who was wearing a simple blue robe and had short blue hair and piercing blue eyes; the kind of eyes that could freeze a person's soul.

Snapping out of his transfixed state, Pakku lowered himself into a fighting stance. "Who are you, spirit?" The old waterbending master asked.

The spirit shifted her eyes to Pakku and after a moment of staring down the elderly man answered in a watery, deadpanned voice. "I am the elder spirit, Akaimizu, the spirit of water."

Upon hearing the spirit's title and the element over which she presided, Pakku immediately dropped his arms. It would be impossible to fight an elder spirit. Especially when it was the spirit of his element.

Akaimizu turned her gaze back to Chief Arnook and spoke saying, "Arnook, Chief of the Northern Water Tribe, you have seen the devastation of this war correct?" At the man's nod she continued saying, "The elder elemental spirits have come together and have decided to pick our own champions to fight in this war. We do not feel that the Avatar will be able to go through with finishing the war. The child is too young to understand what needs to be done."

"I presume then that you would be choosing Hahn as your champion?" asked Arnook inquisitively.

"No. I have chosen someone far better to be my champion," replied Akaimizu.

"Who could possibly be better than me?" Hahn asked in a haughty tone.

"Any sort of waterbender would be a step up from you, non-bender," Akaimizu replied in an acidic voice. She then turned her gaze back to Arnook and continued, "I am here to inform you, Chief Arnook, that your waterbender teachers, Pakku and Yugoda, are to refine my champion's waterbending; both in fighting and in healing." She then gestured to the door where a hooded feminine figure was standing.

"No. It is obvious that your champion is female and we do not teach waterbending to women," stated Pakku. He had been willing to teach Katara on account that she was Kanna's granddaughter and even after sixty years he still cared for her. However, the Northern Water Tribe's tradition continued; the men learned to fight and the women learned to heal.

The old waterbending master's words were cut short as he felt his body start to freeze. He found Akaimizu's eyes were glowing a dark, foreboding blue. "I wasn't asking." Akaimizu spoke in an icy tone, the room getting colder by the second.

"They will do it," spoke Arnook. "Please spirit, release him."

Feeling merciful, Akaimizu released Pakku and raised the temperature of the room back up.

Yugoda looked at the hooded figure then to Akaimizu and asked, "Who have you chosen to be your champion?"

Without looking at her champion, Akaimizu said, "You may now reveal yourself to them."

The figure reached up and slowly removed the concealing hood that had been hiding her identity to everyone.

Arnook, along with every person in the room, gasped at the sight of the woman's face. Her tanned skin, that was light among the water tribes, her eyes, one eye being a soft blue the other a dark blue, and her long, snow white hair. "Yue," gasped Arnook at the sight of his dead daughter.

"Hello father," replied Yue with a soft smile.

"How… how can this be?" questioned the chief. "You're dead. I held your body in my hands."

"It was the decision of the elder spirits that Yue's life was unfairly ended, due to the stupid mistakes of two foolish fish," explained Akaimizu. "We separated her bond with Tui and have given Yue her life back; provided that she would become my champion, which she has agreed to."

Hearing that his daughter was to be the spirit's champion Arnook snapped out of his shocked state and faced Akaimizu. "She cannot be your champion," stated Arnook. "Princess Yue has duties to the tribe."

"_Princess Yue_ died. Only Yue came back to life, and she has duties to me before all else," countered Akaimizu.

"It won't matter anyway," began Hahn, stepping forward. "She is still to marry me and as her husband, I won't let her go."

Before anything else was said or anyone could react, Akaimizu spun around towards Hahn. The young solider felt himself fly back, his head smashing hard into the wall behind him. Looking through blurry eyes, he was confused as he saw the water spirit's hand stretched out in front of her. '_Why… is… everything… getting… dark?_' Hahn thought slowly to himself. His head began to fall and the last thing he saw before his eyes went completely black was his warm, crimson blood running down a spear of ice that went through his heart and pierced the wall behind him. At that moment, Hahn of the Northern Water Tribe died.

Yoki, who had been standing guard at the door next Hahn, had been in shock to see everything that had been happening in front of him. He was appalled at Hahn's stupidity to snub the spirit. But nothing had prepared him for the aftermath of Akaimizu's six inch thick spear of ice impaling Hahn. Yoki felt the sudden splash of warm droplets on his face. As he turned slowly, he saw Hahn's crimson blood pour fourth from his limp form; staining the ice wall and floor red in a pool that only seemed to grow bigger. It was then that Yoki realized that the warm droplets on his face were Hahn's blood. Unable to support himself, Yoki collapsed onto his hands and knees and emptied the contents of his stomach into the fresh pool of blood.

Shoda was a simple man; he was a man of peace, business, and Pai Sho. So, upon seeing the brutality of the elder spirit, the man did the only reasonable thing he could think of. He fainted.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?" Yue shouted at Akaimizu.

"Do not shout at me, girl. He was interfering, so I removed him," answered Akaimizu coolly. The red skinned spirit then turned her attention back to Arnook and said, "I suggest you rethink your statement about stopping your daughter from being my champion, Arnook. Remember, it is by my blessing that she is back among the living. Also, you wouldn't want anything to happen to your beloved wife in the spirit world, would you?"

Realizing he had no control over the situation, Arnook relented and nodded his head.

Seeing Arnook giving his consent, Akaimizu turned to Pakku and Yugoda and said, "Yue will spend four days here learning from both of you, before she is to move on."

Looking at his daughter, Arnook asked, "Where will you be going?"

"I'll be going to Ba Sing Se, without accompaniment, and meeting up with allies, the other champions that the spirits have chosen, there," Yue replied.

"I recommend getting to work quickly, Yue. You have a lot of ground to cover," Akaimizu said as she faded back to the Spirit World.

With Akaimizu gone, Arnook looked at his once dead daughter and said, "I'm glad to see that you have returned. I know you have a lot to do, so I will talk to you later this evening."

Yue bowed her head to her father and then left with Pakku and Yugoda to the training grounds.

Arnook turned to look at Hahn's dead body. In truth he had never really liked the boy, but it was his wife who arranged the marriage so he had honored her wishes. But still, even he hadn't deserved what he got. Arnook walked around the table to help the woozy Yoki and call for help in removing Hahn's body and checking on Shoda.

This was not how the chief imaged his day would turn out.

* * *

Ba Sing Se, the largest city in the world and the last Earth Kingdom province free from Fire Nation control. Many thought the city was a wondrous testament to the strength of the Earth Kingdom. Others thought the city was too corrupt, over populated, and ignorant of the world outside of the walls. One such person was a young peasant girl named, Jin. It wasn't that she didn't like the city; Jin just wasn't the type to deny the truth when it was set before her. At five years old, her family had been forced to leave their small fishing village, due to pirates, and settle in the city. Now, at sixteen years old, she felt that she was old enough to have her own opinions about the city where she had spent the past eleven years of her life with her parents and siblings. She felt that even though the city was still standing, it was tearing itself up inside. Everyone was struggling to survive, the king didn't seem to care, and then there were those Dai Li and their ways of making people disappear. Especially if you showed signs of being a fairly competent earthbender, then they would surely come for you.

Now, unknown to nearly everyone except her parents, Jin was an earthbender and not just any earthbender, but a master level earthbender. As a young child, she was unable to go to school. Luckily she was at least taught how to read and write. Her mother wouldn't let her stay in the house all day, as the woman had housework to do, so it was playtime in the yard for little Jin. It was in that yard, at three years old, that young Jin discovered that she could earthbend. So, over the next two years, she spent every waking minute she could outside practicing her earthbending. A few days after arriving in Ba Sing Se, after having to flee their home, Jin spied two Dai Li agents overpower a man and take him. She didn't remember all of what was said, but did remember that it had to do with him being an earthbender. So, she continued to practice but did so in secret. Over the years, she learned how to sense things with her feet, condense and expand the earth she bent, and bend the earth back to its exact position so that no one would even know it had been bent.

It was thanks to these techniques that she was able to elude the Dai Li. However, even with the strength of her earthbending, Jin knew it would be foolish to oppose the Dai Li openly; for she was only one person, while the Dai Li were hundreds. Every day she practiced when she was able to. The rest of her time was spent exploring the Lower and Middle Rings of the city, spending time with family and, at age twelve, Jin also began working as the family needed money.

Through it all, she kept hope that one day something would happen to help change things. And a couple of days ago, things did change.

**Flashback**

**Ba Sing Se, Lower Ring**

_Jin stood in a small dark room. This room was known as a pit. They were underground rooms that Lower Ring earthbenders built to evade the Dai Li and to train. This pit was special to Jin, as it was her own. Currently, Jin was in the midst of training to increase the strength of her earthbending. She sat on the ground and had a simple dagger in her hands. With great concentration, Jin could bend the metal dagger. After all, metal came from earth, so logically an earthbender could bend it. However, it took a great amount of concentration to do so. Jin's goal was to train enough to lessen this. So, deeply in her thoughts, was Jin, that she failed to notice a second presence in the room with her._

_With a grunt, Jin was able to bend the dagger cleanly in half. As she breathed a sigh of relief, Jin was shocked by the presence of another voice._

"_Very impressive young earthbender," a voice rumbled softly in the darkness._

_Jin eyes widened in surprise and she gasped as a yellow glow filled the room. The figure in front of her stood fairly tall, even though he was floating a couple of feet above the floor. He had yellow skin with orange tribal markings on his body. He was also bald and had brilliant green eyes._

"_I am Kiirojimen the spirit of Earth," Kiirojimen informed her. "I am an elder spirit of the Spirit World. I have appeared before you, Jin, because of a great need in the world."_

"_Why me?"_

"_Because you wish to wield the power to change the world and so you shall. I am choosing you as my champion, the champion of earth. You will join the other champions and together you will help to change the world," Kiirojimen explained to her._

_As Jin became more and more excited at the thought of getting to bring change, Kiirojimen's face grew grim. "However, there will be difficult times ahead. To bring about this change, you will have to face impossible odds and there is no guarantee of victory. Should you prove victorious, you will be greatly rewarded in life," Kiirojimen said as he raised his hand, summoning a small, glowing white pebble in his hand. "This is a piece of spirit earth. It is filled with long forgotten techniques of earthbending. Accept being my champion and the knowledge will be yours." The spirit then extended his hand towards Jin._

_Jin thought for a moment and then firmly shook the spirit's hand. She would be willing to do whatever it took to help change the world; especially, if that change would help improve the life of Ba Sing Se. While shaking Kiirojimen's hand, Jin's vision on the left side went black._

"_Do not fear you're just being realized as my champion." Kiirojimen spoke before she could inquire about her vision. Soon her sight returned and Kiirojimen held up a mirror so that Jin could see what had happened. Her dark green iris was gone and was replaced with a brighter green._

_After taking in her new appearance, Jin looked towards the spirit as he lowered the mirror. Jin then yelped in surprise as the pebble in Kiirojimen's hands shot forward with incredible speed. Jin clenched her eyes, expecting the pebble to hit her, but was surprised at having felt nothing. "The knowledge is now in you. All you need to do is to meditate to learn from it," Kiirojimen explained to her._

"_Good luck in your journey, young earthbender. The other champions will soon be coming. They are making their way to Ba Sing Se," said Kiirojimen as he faded back to the spirit world._

**End Flashback**

Jin opened her eyes and threw the dagger at the wall. As the dagger was in midair, she pressed her four fingers of her right hand together and clenched them. She then spread her clenched fingers apart from each other and as she did so, the dagger split into four separate pieces. Each piece hit their target on the wall, forming a nice line. Looking at her handiwork, Jin only had one thought running through her mind, '_Sweet!_'

* * *

Zuko had awoken early with the sun and set about getting something to eat for himself and his uncle. After a quick breakfast of tea and grilled fish, from a nearby stream, Zuko went outside to mediate, while Iroh lay back down to rest and regain his strength.

Once he found a nice warm spot in the sun, Zuko sat down in the lotus position and began to meditate. He slowed his breathing and cleared his mind; letting everything fall away. After a while, Zuko opened his eyes and was surprised to see that the landscape had drastically changed. The abandoned house, desert-like land, and rocky mountains were all gone and replaced by a lush green field filled with a couple of trees. There was even a small lake off to Zuko's left. The greatest change was the sky; gone was the sun and blue sky, both having been replaced by stars filling an inky black sky.

"What is this place?" Zuko asked aloud. The smart thing would have been to be on guard, but for some reason he felt safe and at peace in this strange place.

"Welcome to your mindscape," spoke an intangible voice from all around Zuko. "You have accessed the knowledge, in your mind, which Aoihi has given you as her champion. As you are in your mind, time will pass differently here. For every hour you spend here, only a minute will pass outside."

This sounded good to Zuko. At least he could get more training done.

"First, we shall cover the history of firebending. This way, you will be able to properly firebend better. Ten thousand years ago, human's learned firebending from the first firebenders, dragons. Unlike sky bison and badger moles, which are wise animals, dragons are wise predators. Because of this, dragons were cautious of who they taught firebending to. The first person to truly learn firebending was a man by the name of Agni. Angi spent years getting the respect of many different dragons. After eight years, Agni was able to get the respect of ten different dragons. After learning firebending from the dragons, Agni went and spoke with each dragon about teaching his family firebending. The dragons debated for nearly a year, but in the end they gave their consent. Agni then began teaching his family the art of firebending and from them was born the Sun Warrior nation. The Sun Warriors believed firebending to be a way of life. It was the unseen spark of life that flowed in every living thing; whether it was dragon, human, or animal. They did not firebend with rage and anger as firebenders today do; instead, the Sun Warriors firebended with passion, a love for life. Over the next, four thousand years the dragons and the Sun Warriors lived in peace. They developed their bending to such extremes that even the Avatar would be hard pressed to compete with them. They developed all sorts of techniques on attacking, defending, healing, relaxing, and a variety of techniques to help with everyday chores."

So far, Zuko had been deeply intrigued by this history of firebending. None of this was in any of the history books he had read as a child. In fact, those books seemed to be lacking. He was concerned as to why the Sun Warriors only had four thousand years of peace. What had happened to them?

"At the end of the four thousandth year, the spirits began making more direct contact with humans. However, it was hard for any spirit other than an elder spirit to make contact. So, it was decided that the elder spirits would make a new spirit to be reborn between the elements; being born into a different element each time. When the eight elder spirits came together, they couldn't decide which element the new spirit should be born into first. After nearly a year of bickering, Shu the spirit of death, lashed out at his fellow spirits. Even though, the spirits could not die, not without giving their will to live up, they could still feel the strength of Shu's power. After each spirit swore to listen to Shu, he released them. Shu then told them, that the elements must decide who the spirit should be born into first and proposed a contest. The humans, who wielded the four elements, would pick a sole champion to represent them. The four champions would then battle in many different ways to determine who would be first in the chain of the new spirit. And so, the elder spirits spread the word amongst the people. The Sun Warriors sent their strongest firebender to represent them. What happened in the series of fights was never revealed, but inevitably the order of the spirit's birth was revealed. First it would be air, then water, next would be earth, and finally fire, as it had done the worst out of all the champions. In honor of the airbender that won, the spirit would hold his name, Avatar. The spirits told the humans how to know who the Avatar would be and that he would be born in a thousand years; the people began to prepare for the arrival of the Avatar. In the land of the Sun Warriors, things were not peaceful. At first it was small disputes, but slowly over the next century hatred began to boil up amongst the different citizens of the Sun Warrior nation. One day, everything came out in the open and the beginning of a bloody war started. It was a war so brutal and bloody, that Shu wept over the people's deaths and disappeared. For it had been his idea to have the contest; which led to the Sun Warriors losing. It was that loss, that started the slow avalanche of events that began the war. He is still around, somewhere, but no one, animal, human, or spirit, has seen him since the Sun Warrior's war. For four centuries the Sun Warriors fought each other and in that time a billion citizen strong nation was reduced to twenty thousand. A peace was eventually reached between the two warring factions; the side that still believed in ancient teachings would stay in the Sun Warrior city. Those who felt different, that it was time to change the teachings, left the city to find a new place to settle. In a single day, fifteen thousand people left the ancient Sun Warrior city. Those fifteen thousand started what would later become known as the Fire Nation."

Zuko was shocked to hear this; due to losing the contest, the Sun Warriors had sunk into hatred and had four centuries worth of war. The current war was only a century old and already was at the brink of tearing the world apart. How badly could the fighting have been for the Sun Warriors?

"Over the next five hundred years, the deserters of the Sun Warriors built what would become known as the Fire Nation; while the Sun Warriors just seemed to vanish from the pages of history. The building of the nation stabilized as the Avatar was being born, marking the start of the six thousandth year in which the Fire Nation would be ruled by the great sages. The great sages ruled for the next thousand years, during their rule they made trade routes with the other lands. Firebending was also increased with more deadly techniques; sadly, its techniques in the other areas began to wane greatly. At the beginning of the seven thousandth year, the Fire Lords started ruling and still rule to this day. Over the next four thousand years, the Fire Nation lived in relative peace. Every once in a while there would be a flare up; after all they do hold the element of fire. Firebending, for the most part, slowly began to simmer down. Until, it was nothing more than a small candle compared to the once roaring flame that it used to be. Slowly firebenders began to rely on their hatred and anger to fuel their fire; which has now brought them to where they are today. This concludes the history of firebending."

When the voice finished speaking, three different options appeared in front of Zuko; floating in midair. The options read as such, _Repeat History_, _Types of Flame Colors and What They Mean_, _Proper Ways to Strengthen Fire_, and _Start Level One Firebending_. Not wanting to hear the history again, Zuko pressed the types of flame colors option. With that option selected, the options disappeared and the intangible voice returned.

"Currently, among firebenders today, there are only two types of colors when firebending; basic fire and blue fire. However, there are actually seven different colors. Basic fire is the type that every firebender starts out with; it is the easiest to control. Blue fire, is a hotter version of basic fire, firebenders who use blue fire are greatly in tune with their inner rage. Black fire is used by firebenders who have gained such control over their emotions that they are able to stop themselves from feeling anything. White fire is the hottest version of basic fire; all techniques done with white fire are killing blows. Green fire is the fire used by healers. It is easy to summon green fire, but getting it to heal is a difficult task. Red fire is the only fire that doesn't burn; it was the fire used in teaching, sparring, and plays so that, no one would be hurt. Red fire may not be able to burn things, but it was great for intimidating. Finally, there is purple fire. Purple fire is used by a firebender on someone who they are intimate with. The fire does not burn the recipient, but rather gives them pleasure."

As the voice spoke, the different colored flames appeared before Zuko. Showing him the color that matched the one the voice was talking about. The different flames then disappeared and the options returned. This time, Zuko pressed the _Proper Ways to Strengthen Fire_ option. He hoped to learn why his own firebending was lacking through this option.

"The proper way to strength your firebending, happens to be just a few simple steps; sadly, they are often forgotten. The first step is proper breathing; inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. The next step is being in control of your emotions. If you are in control of your emotions, your fire will not waver, but should you be out of control of your emotions, your fire could die out or even consume you. The third step will depend entirely on you being able to remember the first two steps. If you stay in control of your breathing and your emotions, then your firebending will only be limited by your imagination and creativity."

Zuko had to admit, that was some simple advice that he had never thought of before. When the options returned, Zuko pressed the _Start Level One Firebendng_ option. The options were then replaced with four new options reading, _Creating Green Fire_, _Creating Red Fire_, _Beginner Techniques_, and _Speed Techniques_. Wanting to know more about the different colored flames, Zuko pressed his hand against the green fire option. The voice came once again and began instructing him on how to summon green fire.

* * *

The sun was raising high into the sky as it beat steadily down on the earth. In the middle of a barren canyon the members of Team Avatar were just finishing with breakfast, before Aang would begin more earthbending training with Toph.

"Hey, something bugging you, Twinkle Toes?" asked the said earthbending teacher.

Toph's question garnered the attention of the Southern Water Tribe siblings, Sokka and Katara, who both looked over at Aang to see that the young airbender did seem depressed about something.

"Is something wrong Aang?" Katara asked in a concerned tone.

"Last night, I was visited by Roku." Aang replied.

"Oh? What did he want?" inquired Sokka.

"He told me that the elder elemental spirits of the Spirit World have chosen three champions to do their bidding," replied Aang.

"Elder elemental spirits? What's that?" asked Toph.

"Roku told me that that makes up part of the ruling body of the Spirit World. They are also the ones who decide who the next Avatar will be," explained Aang.

"So, why does that have you so down?" Katara asked.

"If these elder spirits have chosen three champions, isn't that a good thing?" Sokka added.

"Roku told me that the last time the elders had a champion, they had only one champion and the champion was to kill the then current Avatar," Aang told the siblings.

This statement caused the other three to widen their eyes in surprise. Even Toph had an expression of shock in her glazed green eyes.

"Roku also said that the champion was successful in his mission," finished Aang.

"So, are these champions after you?" Katara asked, fearing for the worst. They already had enough problems with Zuko and Azula's gang.

"Roku wasn't able to find that out. He said he would contact me when he found out more," Aang replied.

"Well, until we know more, I wouldn't worry about it," said Katara.

"Yeah, besides you have plenty to keep you busy with your training today." Toph put in.

"Also, I doubt any spirit champions could take on all of us," added Sokka.

"Thanks guys," Aang said with a grateful smile. He then quickly finished his breakfast and went to join Toph for more earthbending training.

* * *

Zuko slowly opened his eyes, groaning slightly as he stretched his legs. He had been meditating for three hours. The three hours of meditating, resulted in a hundred and eighty hours of training in his mind. Of course, no amount of training in the mind would mean anything if he never practiced what he learned physically.

So Zuko stood up and eased back into a traditional firebending stance. With his breathing under control, Zuko shoved all other thoughts from his mind and concentrated only on healing. Healing the people hurt because of the war, repairing the honor of the Fire Nation, and restoring firebending to what it should truly be.

Zuko then shot his hand forward and watched in amazement as a stream of green flame erupted from his hand. He stood up fully and brought his had closer and summoned the green fire once more. Zuko watched and looked at how the fire was so different from basic fire. Its edges were green and the closer it got to its center, the darker the tone of the flame got.

Zuko balled his fingers together, extinguishing the flame. He then looked careful to his right and left; seeing no one watching him Zuko cheered in joy. "I DID IT!" he cried. He then, quickly composed himself; coughing lightly into his hand. Looking around once again and seeing no one, Zuko began heading back to the house that had his uncle resting in it; whistling softly to himself.

He couldn't explain it, but he liked this green fire.

* * *

There are many different parts in Spirit World. There are the higher plains with the elder spirits, the base level were most spirits reside. Then there are dark, mysterious places like Koh the Face Stealer's realm. Out of all the realms, plains, and levels, none were as terrifying as the Varsealm. Such evil and darkness was filled there; that the very place would stain one's own soul. The elder spirits dared not touch it, even Koh avoided the Varsealm. However, just because they didn't go into that realm, didn't mean that others didn't.

"**So, the elders are choosing champions?**" a ragged voice asked in the darkness. "**Trying to fix the imbalance and end the chaos? This will not do, no…**"

"_Stops them we must. Continue the destruction, we shall._" A second voice cried out with an insane giggle.

"**Yes…**" Agreed the first voice.

"_Whats says you, Shu?_" the second voice asked. The two voices, that had been speaking, looked over at the bound form of the elder spirit of death; he was held tightly to a tree by the tree's branches as its branches with half inch long thorns dug into his flesh.

"I say, I'm going to enjoy finding out ways to kill the two of you. You pieces of perpetual shit," replied the red-eyed spirit.

This statement sent the two voices into crying fits of laughter.

"_Ohs, Shuy. Yous always says the funniest thingys,_" came the comment of the insane voice.

"**Yes… No one can stop us. Not even you,**" added the ragged voice.

The voices laughed once more, gleefully planning the destruction of the physical and spiritual worlds.

**

* * *

Next Chapter: On the Road Again**

**That's the end of the second chapter. Please leave a review and tell me what you think.**


	3. On the Road Again

**Spirit of Fire**

**Chapter 3: On the Road Again**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender**

* * *

It was early in the morning as the members of Team Avatar were finishing breakfast and packing up their camp. They had decided last night to take some mini-vacations as a way to relax. With all of their stuff packed everyone climbed into Appa's saddle as Aang sat on Appa's head holding on to the reins.

"Yip yip," cried Aang and Appa began to rise into the air.

"So, where are we going Aang?" Katara asked once they were well into the flight.

"There's this field that the monks use to take us to for flute practice," explained Aang.

"Great, a flute practice field," chimed Toph groggily; as she was still not used to flying on Appa.

"You know we could be using this time to gather information on the Fire Nation. Not wasting it in on some field," added Sokka who was against the whole mini-vacation idea.

"Oh lighten up, Sokka." Katara replied to her brother, but even she was wondering what was so great about a field.

* * *

Zuko looked around the floor of the abandoned house that he and Iroh had been staying in and made sure that he wasn't forgetting anything. It had been six days since the attack and Iroh was finally well enough to travel for long distances. Which was a good sign because they had already lost enough time. However, at the very least Zuko had gotten some training in. Aoihi's knowledge was harsh, but it was also very informative. Zuko had learned how to summon the healing green fire and the teaching red fire. He also learned how to increase his speed with small, controlled bursts of fire. Zuko had also made it past the first five levels of firebending training. However, he still had several more levels to go. Zuko walked out of the house to where Iroh and Song's stolen ostrich-horse were waiting for him.

"Did we get everything, nephew?" Iroh asked.

"Yeah," Zuko replied as he mounted the ostrich-horse.

Zuko then carefully helped Iroh mount the ostrich-horse behind him. Once Iroh was securely on, Zuko lightly tugged on the reins to get the ostrich-horse moving. With a squawk the animal began moving heading to their next destination; wherever that might be.

* * *

The air was calm and still as Yue rode her ostrich-horse along the river bank. She had learned many things in the three days that she had spent training under master Pakku and healer Yugoda. However, she was already well versed in waterbending; so, the night before her fourth day of training she fled the Northern Water Tribe.

Yue knew her father would protest her being Akaimizu's champion and would try to stop her from leaving. At which point, she would have to use lethal force to be on her way. And if Arnook didn't try to stop her, he would at least want her to travel with a unit of warriors; which would be too distracting for her. So, she had gathered her belongings and had waterbened her way out of the tribe. It had worked rather well, as the entire city was made out of ice.

Once Yue had reached the open water, she bended some water into a solid circle of ice thick enough to stand on and simply flew across the ocean until she landed on the northern shores of the Earth Kingdom. After resting in a small town, where she bought the ostrich-horse, Yue continued on her way following the river that would take her to Serpent's Pass. Once she arrived at Serpent's Pass, all she would need to do would be to head north to Ba Sing Se. So far, for a journey that was to be wrought with peril, this was a surprisingly peril-less journey.

The quiet serenity of Yue's journey was quickly brought to a shattering end, as from the forest sprang five Fire Nation soldiers. The ostrich-horse squawked in surprise, as the soldiers surrounded Yue. There were three in front of her and two roughly behind her, but still in her peripheral vision.

"Surrender or be killed, peasant!" shouted the soldier in front of her, as he got into a firebending fighting stance.

This was an unfortunate turn of events, as her journey could not be slowed by any unnecessary _distractions_. The soldiers would be meeting a cruel end. In a quick fluid motion, Yue stretched her right hand to the river and then swung it towards the forest, while clenching her hand into a fist. With the quickness of Yue's arm, the soldiers were unable to move as five separate streams of water shot out from the river and hurtled towards them. The streams of water froze into large, unforgiving pikes of ice. The pikes hit the soldiers with such force that they were knocked off their feet and hurled back until they were stopped by the trees, where the pikes pinned them. Within moments each of them died due to shock, blood loss, or a combination of the two.

Yue got off of her ostrich-horse and walked over to the dead soldiers. Normally she would never do what she was about to do, but the time for being normal was long gone. She thoroughly searched each of the dead soldiers for valuables. At the end of her searching, Yue had a surprisingly full money pouch, a set of throwing knives, herbs, mini-bombs, and two high-grade swords. '_Hmm, a hundred gold pieces not a bad haul. Though, the throwing knives, herbs, and mini-bombs were a surprise and I never would have expected to find a Fire Nation soldier with a sword. Much less two of them and such fine swords; they'll fetch a nice price if the next town has a weapon's shop,_' Yue thought to herself as she stored the items in the saddle bags of her ostrich-horse. Once the items were secure, Yue mounted her steed once more and continued on her journey. Though, she rode a little faster this time as to not be ambushed by any more Fire Nation soldiers.

After about an hour of riding, Yue came upon a fairly moderate sized town. Within a few minutes Yue found the town's weapon shop. She tied her ostrich-horse to the posts outside and got the swords and mini-bombs. With the weapons she wanted to sell in hand, she opened the door and went in.

The shop was fairly plain, it was small with only three aisles and the purchase table in the back. The walls and aisles were adorned with weapons; ranging from swords to spears to gauntlets to daggers and everything else. Yue quietly made her way down the middle aisle and went over to the purchase table to speak with the shop owner about selling the weapons.

"Excuse me; are you the owner of this shop?" She asked the graying, middle age looking man behind the purchase table.

"Yes, I am," replied the man. "I'm Ju Wei. What can I do for you ma'am?"

"I'm looking to sell these weapons and possible buy one for myself," answered Yue as she placed the weapons on the table.

Ju Wei grabbed the box of mini-bombs first and slid the box in front of him. Opening the lid, the man arched an eyebrow in surprise; it wasn't often to find someone selling bombs of any sort. He picked up each of the six mini-bombs; inspecting each of them for quality, imperfections, and possible tampering. When he finished inspecting the last mini-bomb, he placed it back and closed the lid. He then looked at Yue and said, "I can offer you nine gold pieces for these bombs."

"Why are you offering me such a low sale?" inquired Yue, who was hoping to get a larger sale.

"Bombs, of any sort, are not the primary weapon of choice around here. To sell these, I'll have to sell them at a low price to entice someone to buy them."

"Very well then, I accept the price."

Nodding his head, Ju Wei picked up the closest sword to him and unsheathed it. He began inspecting the sword; silently impressed with the quality of it. The sword was light, but still held a good weight to it. It was well balanced and the blade was razor sharp. The crafting of the handle made it a perfect fit for either the right or left hand. Ju Wei sheathed the sword and placed it next to the box of mini-bombs. "I can offer you fifteen gold pieces for the sword," he said to Yue.

"That sword is worth more than that. Twenty-five gold pieces would be a more reasonable offer."

"I can't afford to pay out that much money for a sword that may or may not sell. I'll go as high as twenty gold pieces, but not a piece more," replied Ju Wei.

Yue arched an eyebrow as she stared down the shop owner. After a moment, she replied saying, "Fine, I'll take it."

With the price of the first sword settled, Ju Wei grabbed the second sword and unsheathed it. As he began inspecting it, he took special notice of the crisscrossing twin dragons etched into the blade. '_Could it be?_' The man thought to himself. He put the sword down and took out a book from behind the counter. Rapidly, he began to skim through the pages.

'_What's going on?_' Yue thought to herself, wondering why Ju Wei stopped inspecting the sword and started looking through a book.

She watched as he stopped on a page and looked at it. He then looked at the sword and then back at the book. Three more times he did this, before placing the book down and saying, "I'm sorry, but I cannot buy this sword from you."

"What? Why not?" asked Yue, who had been hoping for a sale.

Ju Wei pushed the sword closer to her and pointed to the twin dragons. "Do you see these markings?" he asked. At seeing her nod, he continued pointing out such as the distinct curve in the blade and the red and blue tassel on the tip of the handle. Ju Wei then pointed to an image in the book and said, "This sword is one of, currently, one hundred War Year Swords."

"War Year Swords?" Yue asked, not seeing what the significance was.

"It is custom, in the Fire Nation that every year a sword is made to commemorate the year. With the war the current swords are known as the War Year Swords. This sword was made by the legendary sword maker Piandao," Ju Wei explained to her. "This sword alone could cover my wages for the next three years."

Yue frowned slightly, having to keep the sword would make her too recognizable and it would be hard to conceal it. Her eyes widened as she realized something. Turning to face Ju Wei, she asked, "Would you be willing to make a trade for it then?"

"A trade?" Ju Wei asked. "A trade for what?"

"A trade for the sword," replied Yue. "I am in need of a weapon, but a sword simply will not accommodate my needs. So, if you have a weapon that fits my needs; I would be happy to trade you the sword for it."

Ju Wei couldn't believe what he was hearing. In all his years of business, he had never had the opportunity for such a great buy, as the sword was easily worth a wagon of weapons. "Well, what kind of weapon are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for something small, easily concealable, and deadly."

Ju Wei leaned back and rubbed his chin for a moment, thinking. "I think I might just have what you're looking for," he said as he went into the back of his shop. He returned a moment later with a small wooden box in his hands. Setting the box down, in front of Yue, he said, as he opened the box, "I believe these will suit your needs."

Yue looked as saw that in the box there were two silver gauntlets.

"I'll show you what they can do," Ju Wei spoke before Yue could say anything. He pushed back his left sleeve and placed one of the gauntlets on. Once the gauntlet was securely on he said, "As you can see, this looks like an ordinary gauntlet." When Yue nodded in agreement, he continued saying, "However, if I do this…" Ju Wei then moved what looked like a very small switch on the underside of the gauntlet against his forearm. "This happens," he continued as he extended out his arm fully at his side. Then with a flick of his wrist, a thirteen inch long blade shot out. With another flick, the blade returned. "Will this suit your needs?" Ju Wei asked as he removed the gauntlet.

Yue was quite impressed. The weapon was small, easily concealable, and deadly. "What sort of weapon is that?" She asked, having never heard of such a weapon.

"This is a hidden blade gauntlet. It's one of five weapons designed by The Mechanist," Ju Wei explained.

"What were his other weapons?"

"I don't know. All I do know is that this one was the smallest of the five. So, will you trade for this weapon?"

"Yes, I'll trade the sword the pair of gauntlets," replied Yue.

"Okay. Now, in this box is a secret compartment," Ju Wei said as he took out the other gauntlet and pulled up the bottom of the box to reveal the compartment. Inside was a small handwritten book, a small set of tools, and what looked like replacement parts. "This book will explain how the gauntlets work, mechanically, and how to repair it. Since, this is a custom weapon; these are the only spare parts that you'll be able to find for the weapon. Unless, you find The Mechanist. Each gauntlet has two sets of parts."

With everything in agreement, Ju Wei slid the box and a bag filled with twenty-nine gold coins to Yue.

"Thank you." Yue said as she took the box and bag. She then nodded her head in a respective bow and left the shop.

Once outside, Yue loaded the box and bag into the saddle bags of her ostrich-horse and untied him from the post. She decided that she would head to the next town before stopping for the night. Hopefully, it would only be another day's journey to Ba Sing Se.

* * *

After several hours of riding on the ostrich-horse behind his uncle, Zuko finally broke down and asked, "Uncle, where are we going?"

"Well nephew your comment earlier, about friends who don't want to hurt me, got me thinking and the truth is that I just might have some friends who could help us; instead of hurt us," Iroh replied to Zuko.

Normally, Zuko would have asked why Iroh hadn't said anything about these _friends_ earlier. However, he wasn't in the mood for one of his uncle's cryptic life proverbs. So he settled for asking, "Where are these friends, then?"

"If we're lucky, they should be at the Misty Palms Oasis. Which is located just on the outer edge of the terrifying Si Wong Desert," explained Iroh.

"Oh, okay…" Zuko replied, right before his eye widened at a remark his uncle just made. "What a minute, what do you mean, if we're lucky?"

"Oh, nothing nephew," Iroh replied as innocently as he could.

"UNCLE!!" Zuko cried out in annoyance. He just prayed that whatever it was that Iroh was planning wouldn't result in their death or, worse, capture.

Iroh just whistled to himself as he nudged the ostrich-horse to go faster.

* * *

Koto was a proud Earth Kingdom citizen. He had been happily married to his loving wife Xain for seventeen years and had eight wonderful children with her, five girls and three boys. He, his wife, and his four oldest children all had stable jobs to help with family expenses. But still, he couldn't help but feel that he should have been able to do more for his family. He had gone from being the mayor of his small fishing village to being a Ba Sing Se refugee, due to an invasion of pirates. Funny, he had always thought that it would have been the Fire Nation that forced his family and village out. For eleven years, he had been forced to stay in this city, where things just seemed to get slowly worse over the years. Both he and his two eldest daughters held jobs in the Middle Ring, but due to the cost of everything Koto's family had to stay in the Lower Ring. However, it wasn't all bad; the people in the Lower Ring were very friendly. Much more so, than the Middle Ring and, spirits forbid, the Upper Ring.

Nothing ever really changed in Ba Sing Se, for eleven years he had worked as a baker in the Middle Ring. His wife took care of the house, children, and expenses. Jin, Koto's oldest, worked as a seamstress in a dress shop. Shi, Koto's second child, worked as a waitress at a popular restaurant close to Ba Sing Se University. Lin and Routa, Koto's third and fourth children, both worked in the Lower Ring. Lin worked at a laundry service and Routa worked at a wood shop. Tida, Koto's fifth child and fourth daughter, had been working at the Ba Sing Se Zoo, but was recently let go, due to severe cut backs. She now spent her days looking for work and helping her mother around the house.

Even the age the children started working hadn't changed. Each of them started at twelve years old. No, nothing ever really changed in Ba Sing Se. Or at least, that's what Koto used to think until roughly two days ago when his daughter Jin suddenly had two different shades of green in her eyes. Her right eye was still the same green it had always been, the eyes of his mother, but now her left eye was a brighter, more vibrant green, like the grass.

Both he and his wife had asked Jin what happened to her, but Jin had said she couldn't reveal what had happened, only that changes were soon going to come. He and Xain were unsure how to feel about that statement, but Jin had earned their trust and she was an adult. So, they had let it go and trusted her to do the right thing. Koto, just wished he had some idea as to what Jin was doing. The past couple of days, she had been training more and more in her pit. At least, she hadn't missed any work.

Maybe things would soon change.

* * *

Yue sat on her bed in the room of the small inn she was staying it. She had arrived in the small town about an hour from evening time. After renting a stable for her ostrich-horse and checking herself into the inn, she spent the next couple of hours just wondering around town gathering information. She then returned to the inn and had an early supper, curtsy of the kitchen's chef, and retired to her room for the evening.

Currently, Yue was going over her supplies before turning in for the night. '_Okay let's see,_' the former Moon Spirit thought to herself. '_I've got a hundred and twenty-six gold pieces, a set of throwing knives, two hidden blade gauntlets, some herbs, one change of clothes, a small tent, three vials filled with spirit water form the Spirit Oasis, a map of Ba Sing Se, and my false papers form Akaimizu to prove that I belong in Ba Sing Se._'

Since Yue was on the other of the river, from where Full Moon Bay was she wouldn't be entering like most normal refugees. She was going to be sneaking into Ba Sing Se. '_I guess by this time tomorrow I'll be going by my alias, Kimiko._' Yue thought to herself. She knew that if she kept using her real name, someone could find her. Whether, it would be bounty hunters sent by her father, if he sent any after her, people who would try to use her status against the Northern Water Tribe, or worse, Sokka. During her brief time in the Spirit World as the Moon Spirit, Yue had often looked into Sokka's life to see how he was doing. It was interesting to note how quickly he seemed to have gotten over her death; with how much he seemed to be trying to garner her affection at the Northern Water Tribe. However, she wasn't able to get mad at him or even miffed for that matter. She knew that she had been using him; because in truth, she didn't want to get married. Hahn was the boy her mother had chosen for her when she was a baby and Yue never had a say in the matter. Her being engaged to Hahn was known all through out the tribe, so none of the other boys had ever dared approached her. Then one day, Sokka showed up and directly engaged her. Seeming to not care or not know about who she was. And so, Yue tried to use him. She thought that if, she showed more interest in another guy her father would annul the marriage to Hahn and then she could dump Sokka and be free to choose her own husband. Though the more time she spent with Sokka, the more real his feelings seemed to be. When she realized this, Yue came clean and told Sokka that she was engaged.

Soon afterwards, the raid from the Fire Nation Navy began and the Moon Spirit was struck down. When it was realized that She could sacrifice her life to save the Moon Spirit she did so; not for her people or because it was the right ting to do, but for her own selfish reason. It was her chance to escape and be free. However, it was that act of selfishness that drew Akaimizu to her and made Yue her champion.

**Flashback**

**Spirit World**

_It was hard to explain the mysterious of Spirit World. Yue knew that she had only been in the Spirit World for a short time, but due to the strange flowing of time, or was it the lack of time; it had felt like a decade had passed. During her time in the Spirit World, Yue learned that she could waterbend. Not only could she waterbend, but she knew the different styles on waterbending._

_Yue sat quietly on a large bolder overlooking a large lake. The sky was as black as night, but the area around her was as bright as day._

"_Are you enjoying yourself?" asked a voice behind her._

_Yue turned to see a red skinned woman with short blue hair. "Who are you?" Yue asked the newcomer._

"_I am Akaimizu the Spirit of Water," replied Akaimizu._

"_Oh. I am Yue the Moon Spirit." Said Yue._

"_Sadly, you are not the Moon Spirit." Akaimizu replied. "You are a human that got lucky. However, it's time to correct that."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Tui was brought back to life, so there's no need for you. We plan to remove you."_

_When se heard this, Yue tried to bend the water from the lake and attack the strange woman, but the water would not listen to her._

"_Nice try child," laughed Akaimizu. "But you really didn't think you could use water to attack an elder spirit. Much less, using Tui powers that I gave her."_

"_That you gave her?"_

"_Yes. I made Tui and La."_

_Yue suddenly found herself shaking slightly. All her life she believed Tui and La to be the oldest of spirits and here was one that had made them._

"_With Tui alive, there's no need for you to be here. So, it's by that decision that you're to be removed form Tui's spiritual energies. Once removed, you'll start to fade into nothingness."_

_Yue found herself desperately wishing for aid._

"_However, there may be a way for you to save yourself."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_I know why you gave up your life to save Tui. You did it so you could be free, but now you are trapped here in the Spirit World. You wanted to be free on the Physical World."_

_Yue's eyes widened in surprise; at the spirit's knowledge._

"_The balance of the world is now imbalanced. The elder elemental spirits are choosing champions to rebalance the world. The champions of earth and fire have been decided. All that remains is picking the champion of water. I want you to be my champion, Yue."_

"_Why me?"_

"_Because you're the only one who; can be my champion. The only Southern Water Tribe bender is to close to the Avatar and is to narrow minded to be my champion. I refuse to have anyone from Foggy Swamp be my champion. They may be waterbenders, but they're Earth Kingdom, same for those in the Fire Nation. The only place left is someone from the Northern Water Tribe. Unfortunately, most of the benders there are lacking. So, I thought to bring you back and let you be free; provided that you'd be my champion. Help rebalance the world and for your reward, you will be free to go and do as you please."_

_Yue thought for a moment before speaking saying, "Alright, I'll be your champion."_

_A few days later, Yue was brought back to life._

**End Flashback**

Akaimizu had told her that she would meet her fellow champions in Ba Sing Se. Form there they'd start taking action. The purpose of the champions would be to do what the Avatar couldn't do. Aang was only a child and people wanted him to face and kill the Fire Lord. Even though, he was a monk too. Anyone could see that all he wanted to do was spend his time bending, hanging out with his friends, and riding Appa. Simply put, Aang couldn't be the world's hero; at least not alone he couldn't.

With a soft sigh, Yue put out the candle in the room and lay down for the night.

* * *

Zuko mentally growled in frustration. Ever since Aoihi showed him the world's view on the Fire Nation and he became her champion, Zuko had been feeling different. Iroh explained that it was because Zuko had broken free and was now discovering who he truly was. Instead of, living solely to please one person. Zuko found himself being calmer and more relaxed in general. However, that calmness was quickly evaporating ever since they fled the Rough Rhinos.

First, they were stuck riding the ostrich-horse for a few hours. Then, they had to sell the ostrich-horse. Zuko felt bad about selling the bird, he was hoping to return it to Song. Next, they continued their journey on foot to the Misty Palms Oasis. Once there, they spent a couple of hours at a seedy desert tavern; until, Iroh decided to engage some old bald guy in a game of Pai Sho. Instead of playing a game, the two men looked like they were doing some sort of secret hand shake. It was at that moment, two bounty hunters yelled at the top of their lungs that they were there to capture them. Well, this had caused the rest of the _people_ in the tavern to round on them, as they wanted such high reward for their capture. Luckily, Zuko, Iroh, and the old man known as Fung had been able to escape. The three of them walked silently across a couple of sand dunes and into a small desert oasis town. Once inside, the largest building in the small town which happened to be a flower shop, Fung was saying something about being honored to meet such a high ranking member of the Order of The White Lotus; whatever that was. At this point, Zuko had had it.

"Now that you played Pai Sho, are you going to do some flower arranging, or is this club going to offer some _real_ help ?" Zuko asked them annoyed.

"You must forgive my nephew." Iroh said with a chuckle. "He is not an initiate and has little appreciation for the cryptic arts."

'_Who cares about the cryptic arts?_' Zuko thought to himself. '_The cryptic arts aren't going to tell me what you're planning uncle._'

Seeing Fung and Iroh walking through the door at the back of the shop, Zuko made to follow them but the door was quickly shut on him. Before he could ask what was meaning of closing the door on him, the small peep window of the door opened.

"I'm afraid it's members only. Wait out here," Iroh told him and then closed the window before Zuko could get a word in.

Frowning slightly, Zuko sat on the small cabinet net to the door. Looking around Zuko took in the sight of the shop noticing the many different flowers; especially, the interesting one next to him. Making sure no one was watching him, Zuko cautious leaned over and gave the odd flower a curious sniff.

'_Doesn't smell half bad, for a flower,_' Zuko thought to himself.

Several minutes passed with nothing happening, except Zuko get more bored with each passing moment. After a particularly boring moment, that was 2.6 percent more boring then the moment before it, Zuko heard the front door of the shop open. Zuko look towards the door to see a beautiful woman walking into the shop. She was tall, maybe an inch or two taller then him, with tanned sun kissed skin. She had long dark brown hair that was pulled back into a tight single braid and deep honey brown eyes.

"Hello, are you new here?" The girl asked.

"Oh, um no. My name's Lee." Zuko replied with a slight blush at the beautiful girl. "I'm here with my uncle. He's visiting some of his friends in the back."

"Glad to meet you, Lee. My name's Malaya." Malaya said introducing herself. "I came to pick up a special order for my mother, could you please see if Fung can get it for me?"

"Okay." Zuko replied as he got to feet. Zuko then faced the door and banged loudly.

"Hey there's a girl out here by the name of Malaya. She says, Fung's got a special order for her mother," Zuko shouted.

The door quickly opened, Fung's head appearing through the crack. "Hello, Malaya. I'm sorry but I'm a bit busy at the moment." He said addressing Malaya. Fung then turned to Zuko and said, "Lee, could you please check her out? Malaya's order is all ready to go. It's right there on the top shelf." Fung pointed to a nice bouquet of orange flowers, before he closed the door once more.

Sighing softly to himself, Zuko looked around the small shop to find the step ladder to get the flowers. After finding the step ladder, he climbed up and gently lifted the heavy pot the flowers were placed into. Once Zuko had the flowers down off the shelf, he went to the small counter that had the money book on it. He took a quick glace to see how they did everything and saw that it was a fairly simple process of writing the person's name down and how much they paid.

Zuko searched around the flowers and pot for the price. Once he found it, he turned to Malaya and said, "Your total is eight silver pieces and three copper pieces."

"Okay," Malaya replied as she dug into her money pouch for the correct amount. She then handed him the money and Zuko wrote her name in the book and the amount she paid.

"Thank you very much for your help, Lee." Malaya replied as she picked up the pot.

"You're welcome." Zuko responded. "If I may ask though, what are you doing out so late?"

"Well, since it's so hot during the day; most of the people do their shopping at night." Malaya answered. "If you're worried about anyone attacking me, don't be. I'm the leader of the Hami tribe, he largest tribe of sandbenders in the Si Wong Desert. If anyone attacks and/or kills me, they'll be risking a tribal war with the Hami."

Malaya then smiled happily at Zuko and turned to leave the shop.

When the door closed after Malaya left, Zuko sat back on the cabinet once again. Seeing that the meeting was going to be taking a while, Zuko closed his eyes and concentrated on a new more that he had been learning from Aoihi's knowledge. It was one of the few moves that didn't actually involve fire and the only move that didn't involve movement. The move was actually a sense. The user expanded his sense around him and he could feel everything around him by there temperatures. It was something like '_Heat Vision_'; at least that's what Zuko was calling it.

The technique was developed around the middle of the Sun Warriors peaceful rule, to help those who were blind see. The technique eventually became lost during the three hundred year war. It was never recreated, due to people thinking blindness as being a weakness.

Zuko took to learning this technique for a practical reason; a warrior never knows when he might lose his sight during battle. So, it would be a good idea if he had something to help keep him going. As he concentrated, Zuko began to _see_ the flowers, shelves, and walls o the shop. He could even see into the back room and saw that Iroh was talking to four people. Iroh was easy to spot as firebenders had a higher body temperature then non-firebenders.

'_Now here comes the hard part,_' Zuko thought to himself as he slowly opened his eyes. As he opened his eyes the heat vision's area of sense lessened and Zuko was just barely able to see into the back room. '_Still isn't strong enough._'

Zuko trained on his heat vision for a couple hours. Eventually, the events of the day began to catch up to him and Zuko slowly fell asleep.

Several hours later Zuko snapped awake as the door to the back room opened. "What's going on? Is the club meeting over?" Zuko asked as he snapped into a defensive stance.

"Everything is taken care of," replied Iroh. "We're headed to Ba Sing Se."

"Ba Sing Se? Why would we go to the Earth Kingdom capital?" Zuko asked wondering if his uncle had become touched in the head

"The city is filled with refugees. No one will notice two more." Explained Fung.

"We can hide in plain sight there and it's the safest place in the world from the Fire Nation. Not even I could break through to the city," added Iroh for emphases of the city's defensive strength.

The front door then opened and a man walked in saying, "I have the passports for our guests, but there are two men out on the street looking for them."

"That won't be a problem, Heto," replied Fung as he emerged from the back room with a cark holding two large urns with flowers planted in them.

"You'll escape inside of these," continued Fung. He lifted up the flowers to show that they actually only went a couple of inches deep. Iroh took the passports form Heto and climbed into the back urn; leaving the front urn for Zuko.

'_This is not how I pictured, I'd be traveling._' Zuko thought to himself as he climbed into the urn and made himself comfortable. '_Well, at least I'll get more mediation done._'

The tops were quickly placed back on top and the gentle rocking of the cart started, indicating to Zuko that they were now being moved.

'_I really hope this plan of yours works uncle._' Zuko thought as he settled down for the long trip.

**

* * *

Next Chapter: Welcome to Ba Sing Se**

**There's the end to chapter 3. Please leave a review, it lets me know if you're enjoying the story.**


	4. Welcome to Ba Sing Se

**Spirit of Fire**

**Chapter 4: Welcome to Ba Sing Se**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender**

* * *

Things had been interesting for Zuko ever since he and Iroh were able to escape the two bounty hunters in the Si Wong Desert. They had to spend nearly a day hiding in the large urns. It wasn't so bad, since Zuko was able to get more meditating done and was able to complete another ten levels of training; this in turn allowed him to summon blue fire, Azula's specialty. Sadly, meditating was the only thing he could do. Since they were hiding, Zuko couldn't talk until it was clear and with the way the trip was going so far, it didn't look like they would be clear anytime soon.

The young exiled prince was brought out of his musings as he felt the cart stop. A moment later the small tray of flowers was taken off the top; Zuko could also hear Heto say, "The coast is clear now."

Zuko and Iroh climbed out of the urns and saw that they were next to a large boulder set in a grassy field. "I hope the ride wasn't too uncomfortable for you both," said Heto. "I can take you both as far as Full Moon Bay which is about five miles from here, but once there I'll need to return to the Si Wong Desert. From Full Moon Bay, you will travel across the lake by ferry and meet up with our contacts in Ba Sing Se."

"Thank you very much Heto," replied Iroh.

Iroh waited a moment to see if his nephew would say anything. After not hearing anything for a moment, Iroh thought he'd have to remind Zuko about his manners when Zuko spoke up. "Thanks for the help," came the prince's reply. Okay, so it wasn't much, but it was better than what Iroh had originally thought Zuko was going to say. The three men then began walking to Full Moon Bay. Heto walked in front and Zuko and Iroh walk side-by-side behind him.

Zuko looked down as he noticed Iroh handing him some papers. "What's this?" he asked as he took the papers.

"Those are your passport papers. They have your alias on them and will allow us to hopefully get into the city," Iroh explained.

Zuko looked at the paper, taking note of what he would be called from now on. "My name's Mushi? That doesn't sound like a good alias, Uncle." Zuko commented.

"Oh, sorry about that nephew," Iroh said taking back the paper and handing Zuko the other paper. "Mushi is my alias, nephew. Your alias is Lee."

"Thanks. That sounds better."

"So, how was your time in the urn?" Iroh asked. He had thought the entire ride over that Zuko would have burst out of the urn.

"It was boring. I mostly mediated, when I couldn't sleep," replied Zuko.

"Did you do any of your training from Aoihi?"

"Yes, and look." Zuko said somewhat happily and he placed his closed hand in front of Iroh. Zuko then concentrated and slowly opened his hand.

To say Iroh was surprised, would have been an understatement. "Zuko, you can now summon blue fire?"

"Well, you're looking at it aren't you?" replied Zuko with his own question.

Iroh had to admit, he was watching. Zuko quickly extinguished the flames. "Very impressive, nephew, you have come a long way in a short amount of time."

"Thank you, Uncle. I hope that when the time comes this training will be enough to do what must be done," Zuko replied somberly.

* * *

The blood had stopped dripping off the ceiling hours ago. The stench of decay filled the air in the room, due to the decomposing remains of the slaughtered body. Of course, it was hard to call it a body when it had been ground up.

Two men looked on in well-concealed horror at the scenery of the room. Both of these men were tall and wore black pants under large dark green shirts. They were two members of an organization known as the Dai Li, the cultural authority of Ba Sing Se, who were tasked with keeping the traditions and overall peace of the city. Unfortunately, the scene before them was making it harder and harder to keep the peace.

"Do we know who it is, Quwan?" asked the rough voice of the first agent to his partner.

"It's Hu, Shilang," replied Quwan grimly or as grimly as someone who had been trained to kill their emotions could.

"How many does it make so far?" asked Shilang.

"Which one, our men or total deaths over all?" asked Quwan, as there was a difference.

"Both."

"We have now lost a total of forty-two men and the total murder count is one hundred and eight," came Quwan's answer.

"Long Feng isn't going to like that we haven't captured those responsible for these murders," commented Shilang indifferently.

"With all respect due to the Grand Secretariat, I don't think this is the work of a group," replied Quwan. "With how the murders have been done, if it was more than one person, someone would have talked by now."

"It doesn't matter; just so long as we keep this out of the public's knowledge."

"That is becoming harder and harder to do." Quwan said as they began to clean up what remained of the man once known as Hu. So as to not touch the ground flesh, then bent the earth and gathered up what remained. Once they had all they could get, Quwan and Shilang packed it together and held it in place with earth; forming a giant ball. They then lifted the corpse-filled ball of earth into the air and began to walk away.

Whoever this was that was committing these murders was without question one of the sickest individuals to ever walk the face of the Earth. It often made one wonder if the Fire Nation was a better place than being in a city where this _person_ was free.

* * *

Yue stretched as she finished drying herself off after taking a nice soak in a warm tub of water. Yue walked over to the bathroom mirror and began to brush her hair. Once she had all of the tangles out, Yue took one of her knives and began to cut her hair. Truthfully, she didn't want to cut her hair, but it was too much of a hassle to fix every morning now that she was on her own. With the cutting finished, Yue's hair now only went down to just barely past her shoulders.

Yue then bent the remaining water off her hair and body. With careful bending she was able to freeze the cut strands of hair and dump them in the trash. Yue then quickly got dressed, putting on a pair of dark brown pants followed by a dark brown tunic that reached halfway down her thighs. If she was going to be hiding out in Ba Sing Se for a while, she needed to look the part. When she had arrived in her first Earth Kingdom town that was the first thing she bought, even before her ostrich-horse.

With her clothes now on, Yue pulled up her shirt revealing her finely-toned stomach and grabbed her set of throwing knives. The knives were stored in a holster that went around the stomach; allowing the wearer to withdraw the knives from under the small of his or her back. It was designed this way so that one could draw a knife without the intended target knowing. Also, who would think to look for a holster of throwing knives on the small of someone's back?

Once the knives were in place, Yue dropped her shirt and slid on her dark green light weight jacket robe to help hide the knives even more. She then opened the box her gauntlets were in and put them on, taking extra care to make sure the blades locked in place. With her knives and gauntlets on, Yue took a moment to look at herself in the mirror. '_Good-bye Yue and hello Kimiko,_' thought Yue. The young princess then gathered her belongings and grabbed a quick breakfast, before checking herself out of the inn.

With her last minute preparations done, Yue went to the stables where her ostrich-horse was at and began to saddle him up. Once her mount was ready, Yue climbed onto her steed and rode out of the small town; heading in a northeastern direction to take her right to Ba Sing Se.

* * *

Aang sighed sadly to himself, he knew he should be happy that the sandbenders were still willing to help him and his friends after the anger that he had displayed when he destroyed their desert gliders, but without Appa nothing seemed to matter.

It was just supposed to be a simple trip into the Si Wong Desert and help Professor Zei find Wan Shi Tong's Library; while also, looking for information on the Fire Nation. However, once they had discovered that the Fire Nation did have a weakness Wan Shi Tong hadn't taken it so well. The knowledge spirit forced his library back into the spirit world and began attacking them. Luckily, they had been able to escape, but sadly when they escaped Aang learned that Appa had been stolen.

The rest of the day Aang took to the skies trying to find his stolen bison, but only found more and more desert. As evening fell, he returned to his friends angry and depressed. They continued walking long into the night and eventually stumbled upon an abandoned sandbender glider. They followed the glider's compass which took them to a very large rock. For the most part, the rock had been plain, until they went inside the cave at the top and realized that it wasn't a cave but a hive for vulture-wasps. Slowly the four friends were being out numbered but, just when it seemed that they were done for, help arrived. That help was in the form of sandbenders.

As they talked to the sandbenders Toph revealed that the sandbender by the name of, Ghashiun was the one who had stolen Appa. Upon hearing this Aang began to let his anger overtake him completely. Aang did the one thing the monks had always spoken out against; he let his anger rule him. The monks had always told him that anger would eventually lead to war and they were right; Aang was ready to go war against the sandbenders and not just the ones who took Appa, but all sandbenders. In the end, Katara was able to get him to calm down and Aang cried knowing that his last true link to his people was gone. Along with Appa being stolen and letting his anger rule him, there were still the champions that Roku had told him about to worry about; it had all just been too much to take.

When Aang had calmed down the sandbenders returned, still offering their help. Aang somberly accepted their help. Packing everyone onto the last glider, Sha-Mo the leader of the Tusken tribe of sandbenders and father of Ghashiun, guided them to the Tusken camp. After a long rest and getting something to eat, Sha-Mo explained exactly where in the desert they were. Once they were resupplied, Sha-Mo escorted them out of the desert towards its northern edge. They had just reached the edge and were currently disembarking from the sand gliders.

"Avatar Aang, are you sure you do not want to pass judgment on Ghashiun?" Sha-Mo asked as he approached the young Avatar.

Aang turned his head to the Tusken's leader and replied saying, "No, I should not pass judgment on him. I unjustly caused damages to your people and was willing to attack you. I have no right to judge. As leader of your people, I will leave Ghashiun's fate to you."

Sha-Mo bowed his head in respect of Aang's decision. With the stiff good-byes over the sandbenders turned to leave heading back to their home. Team Avatar then began walking hoping to find a campsite soon as evening was fast approaching them.

* * *

Zuko leaned back against the rock he was sitting against. He and Iroh had safely made it into Full Moon Bay and got their tickets. Now all _Lee_ and _Mushi_ had to do was wait until tomorrow when the ferries would be back to journey into Ba Sing Se. It shouldn't be too hard; all they had to do was keep their tickets from being stolen, make sure no one knew they were firebenders or from the Fire Nation, and not kill anyone.

Currently, Zuko and Iroh were settling in for the evening. As there wasn't a designated place to sleep, everyone was sleeping where they could find room. For Iroh and Zuko it was against the cavern's rock walls. Zuko was keeping quiet and to himself while Iroh had found some other old guys to talk tea and Pai Sho with.

'_When will the nightmare of tea and Pai Sho ever end?_' Zuko thought to himself.

"Excuse me, but is this spot taken?" asked a meek voice in front of Zuko.

Zuko looked up to see two young girls, roughly his age, standing in front of him. They were average in height and both of them had long black hair. The girl to his left had green eyes while the girl to his right brown eyes. The girl with the brown eyes was indicating to the spot next to him, obviously having been the one who spoke.

"No, the spot's free," replied Zuko.

"Thank you," replied the girl with green eyes; as the two girls made to sit down next to him. The girl with brown eyes sat next to him and the girl green eyes sat on her other side.

"My name's Miki and this is my sister, Miya." said the brown eyed girl; now known as Miki.

"Nice to meet you both, I'm Lee," said Zuko. "And, that's my uncle Mushi," he continued pointing to where Mushi was.

"Oh, you're traveling with your uncle to Ba Sing Se?" asked Miya.

"Yeah, he's the only family I've got left," answered Zuko.

"Sorry to hear that, we know how you feel," spoke Miki. "My sister and I are the only family we have left too."

With the small talk over the three refugees settled down for the night. The sleep would be uncomfortable, but at least it would be peaceful. As the hours passed, the cavern grew darker and darker until only a few soft candles provided the only light.

Zuko snapped wide awake as he felt something suddenly lean against him. Lifting up his head, he saw that Miki had slumped over and was leaning heavily on him, still sleeping softly. However, there was an odd round thing pressing against his arm.

'_What is that?_' Zuko asked himself as he moved his arm. Zuko's moving was brought to an abrupt halt as soft pleasurable moan escaped Miki's sleeping lips.

'_That's her…_' Zuko began to think, but quickly stopped; his face growing bright red. As gently and quickly as he could, Zuko leaned Miki the other way. Letting her lean against her sister. Seeing that she was still asleep, he let out a relieved sigh as he leaned back against the rock wall again.

"Enjoying yourself, nephew?" came Iroh's voice next to him.

Zuko jumped slightly in surprise, but luckily didn't shout. "Uncle! Don't do that!" growled Zuko.

Iroh chuckled softly at Zuko's response. "Come now, nephew. I was just making sure you behaved."

"Behaved?"

"You have been at sea for three years with little to no female interaction," replied Iroh. Seeing his nephew blush, Iroh decided to push it a little more. "Although, there was that time on your fourteenth birthday when we were at port in Taris and-" Iroh was quickly cut off by Zuko, who had snapped his hands over Iroh's mouth.

"I thought I said to never mention that night again." Zuko hissed.

Iroh chuckled once more and leaned back against the rock wall to sleep once more.

Zuko shook his head to clear away the thoughts in his head and waited for sleep to claim him once more.

* * *

It had been an easy, if a bit fast paced, day for Yue. After leaving the small town she had spent the night in, she rode her ostrich-horse until she reached the next town. This town was a bit larger, so she was able to get a cheap fifty-five gold piece deal for her ostrich-horse.

With her ostrich-horse gone, Yue had to walk a few miles until she was well out of the town's sight. As no one was supposed to know about her bending skills yet, Yue had to make sure it was kept secret for as long as possible. With the town now out of sight and no one around, Yue bent the water out of her two large water skins and formed a platform of ice. The platform was four feet wide and about seven inches deep. With the platform of ice stable, Yue climbed onto and anchored her feet to the platform. Yue then, raised herself high into the sky and took off for Ba Sing Se. Being a waterbender, she could make the water become solid by turning it into ice. After that, all she would have to do would be to just stand on the ice and bend it in the direction she wanted to go.

After nearly an hour of _flying_, Yue was walking around the streets of Ba Sing Se, the largest city in the world. It had been easy getting into the city. All she had to do was fly high above the walls of Ba Sing Se and once she was over the Lower Ring quickly descend down to the ground. People in general never look up often, but one couldn't be too careful. On the off chance that someone did look up, most of what they would have seen would have been to small to identify it and would have passed it off as a bird.

According to her map she was in the Firma District of the Lower Ring. Firma was one of the slightly better off areas of the Lower Ring. Yue or rather Kimiko, was able to find a decent apartment, there was an abundance of them, at a price of eight gold coins a day and was now happily living in the Deim Apartment Complex at apartment 308. Since there was still plenty of light left in the day, Yue wandered around the city or rather just around Firma and got a feel for the place as she learned where shops and restaurants were located.

Yue was now getting ready for bed, for tomorrow Kimiko would have a busy day looking for a job.

* * *

"We will now begin the simple lesson of flying," spoke the disembodied voice.

"Flight?" questioned Jin as she stood in the grassy field that was her mindscape. "I'm an earthbender not an airbender, so how can I fly?"

"Despite beliefs of the last couple of thousands years, all benders can fly to some degree. For an earthbender, you need to only make yourself a platform of earth and then anchor yourself to the hovering earth. Once this is accomplished, it is only a simple matter directing the earth were you want to go."

Following the instructions, Jin anchored her feet to the ground; bending the earth over her feet and making it hold firmly to her shins. As carefully as she could, Jin broke the earth into a small firm platform around her anchored feet. With the platform free, Jin moved the earth up into the air and by default herself as well.

'_Okay, this is definitely new,_' Jin thought to herself as she saw that she was several feet above the ground. For several more hours she practiced, making sure to get the feeling of flying down until she was able to do it without thinking.

Jin opened her eyes as she came out of her mediation and stretched for a moment. Once her muscles were relaxed, she shifted into an earthbending stance and anchored her feet to the ground. She then carefully bent the earth around her anchored feet into a platform and broke it away from the ground. Jin rose into the air slowly, as to not hit her head on the ceiling. '_I'm going to have a lot of fun with this,_' Jin thought as she hovered back and forth above the ground. After a few more minutes of hovering around her pit, Jin bent the platform back into the ground.

Using her Seismic Sense and sensing no one above her, Jin bent her pit closed as she raised herself up on a column of earth and opened the ceiling above her. Going through the hole in the ceiling lead her to where she had been when she had entered her pit, the house closet. Jin exited the closet and headed for the kitchen to see what her mother was fixing for dinner.

Jin pushed open the door to the kitchen and saw her raven haired mother at the stove. "Hey Mom, what's for dinner?" she asked.

"Hello Jin. We are having Rabbaroo stew for supper," replied Xain. Turning her golden eyes to her eldest child Xain asked, "Could you please check on the triplets for me and let them know supper will be ready soon?"

"Sure mom," Jin replied as she exited the kitchen and headed upstairs. Her family lived in a small shabby three story house. On the first floor was the kitchen, the living room/dining room, the house closet, the bathroom, and her parents' room. The second floor held rooms of Tida, Routa and the triplets, who were named Maro, Kane, and Zena. With the triplets being the youngest members of the house at five years old, they all slept in the same room. Which was good because the family wasn't ready for a move; nor did they have the money to make a move. Plus, trying to find a place would be a nightmare. The third floor held the rooms of Lin, Shi, and her own room.

As Jin came upon the door to the triplets' room she could hear the three of them talking inside.

"We have ta tell mommy and daddy," came the voice of Zena.

"Nos. You know what mommy said abouts that," replied the urgent voice of her brother Maro.

"If mommy or daddy ever finds out, they won't love us," spoke up the last of the triplets, Kane.

'_What are the three ankle biters talking about?_' Jin thought to herself. She knew that as their older sister she could easily find out, but in a house as small as there's getting to have and keep something to yourself was a very rare thing.

Going against her better judgment, Jin decided to let her youngest siblings keep their little secret. Jin banged hard on the door and shouted, "Hey you three it's almost supper time. Go wash up."

As she turned to head back downstairs, Jin took notice of the hall candle. '_Huh, the candle seems brighter than usual. I wonder if these are the new candles dad got with the supposedly brighter burning wick?_' She asked herself. '_Oh well no time to think about that; there's supper to be eaten._'

Jin softly hummed to herself as she walked down the stairs.

* * *

Zuko awoke feeling himself being shaken. Opening his eyes, he saw that it was Iroh who had awakened him.

"Wake up, Lee. The ferries are here it's time for us to board," Iroh told him.

Zuko stood up, popping the kinks out of his spine as he did so from the previous night's sleep. The two men then made their way towards the ferry on the right. It took awhile to get everyone on board, but the ferry was pulling out just before lunch.

"Who would have thought, after all these years, I'd return to the scene of my greatest military disgrace …As a tourist," commented Iroh somberly until the end where he finished by putting on his straw hat and grinning.

Zuko rolled his eyes at his uncle's actions. He loved the man, but sometimes Iroh made it hard not to want to kill him. "Look around, we're not tourists, we're refugees," countered Zuko. He looked down at the murky green slop that was supposed to pass as food on the ferry. '_Ugh, even the prisoners in the Fire Nation eat better than this._'

Taking a small sip of the food, Zuko immediately spit it back out due to the foul taste. "I'm sick of eating rotten food."

"Aren't we all," came an agreeable voice.

Zuko turned around to see a guy roughly his own size and height with a mop of messy brown hair leaning against one of the ferry's posts.

"My name's Jet, and these are my freedom fighters, Smellerbee and Longshot." the teen said introducing himself and his companions.

"Hey." said the short teen with red facial markings who had been identified as Smellerbee. Longshot, who had a quiver of arrows strapped to his back, just nodded in his greeting.

"Hello," Zuko replied in greeting to all three of them.

"Here's the deal, I hear the captain's eating like a king; while us refugees have to feed off his scraps. Doesn't seem fair does it?" asked Jet.

"What sort of '_king_' is he eating like?" Iroh asked the teen.

"The fat, happy kind," replied Jet. He then looked back at Zuko and asked, "You want to help us '_liberate_' some?"

Zuko looked down at the bowl he was holding and thought to himself, '_I've got a bad feeling about this, but…_' He then threw the bowl over and turned to face Jet and said, "I'm in."

* * *

Yue huffed to herself as she walked back to her apartment in the setting sun. She had been to six, six different places and not a one of them hired her or even bothered to give her the courtesy of a pity interview.

'_I never thought living in a city could be so hard,_' Yue thought to herself. '_Well, tomorrow's another day._'

* * *

Aang sat on the edge of a cliff overlooking the left half of Serpent's Lake. Earlier that day he and the rest of Team Avatar had met up with some refugees heading to Full Moon Bay to take the ferries into Ba Sing Se. However, due to an unfortunate loss of their passports, the refugees had been denied access to the ferries. Aang told them not to worry as he would guide them across the Serpent's Pass. They were able to cover a lot of ground that day and had made it a bit over half-way across the deadly pass. Now, everyone was getting ready to go to sleep as they would have a busy day tomorrow completing the rest of the journey.

As he continued to stare out at the lake, Aang was caught by surprise as a voice spoke to him. "Hello Aang."

Aang's eyes widened as he was brought out of his deep thinking by the voice. Looking in the direction of the source of the voice Aang replied saying, "Hello Roku."

"I see that you are in pain young Avatar over the loss of your bison, but I have some news that might lessen some of the stress on your shoulders," spoke the former Avatar.

"Thank you, Roku. What news do you bring?"

"I have been able to get more information on the three champions."

"Any idea who they are?"

"I'm sorry, but no. The elder spirits are being rather tight lipped about that. But I was able to learn where the three are headed and what their mission is," Roku answered. "The three are headed for Ba Sing Se. Two of the champions are in the city now and the third will be in the city soon. The three of them, are unaware of who their fellow champions are, but know that they exist. Their mission is in two parts for most of the champions. All three of them must complete a primary mission and most of them also have a secondary mission to complete. I know what the primary mission of the champions is, but I am unaware of the secondary missions. The primary mission is to stop the war."

"That's what I'm doing. It's my destiny to stop this war."

"The elders feel that when the time comes you will not be up to the task. The champions were chosen as a back-up plan."

Aang frowned slightly at this. Why wouldn't he be able to fulfill his destiny?

"I leave you now to think on what I have told you," Roku said as he faded from Aang's sight.

* * *

Sokka sat away from the group's camp looking up at the bright full moon.

"It's a beautiful moon," commented a voice next to him softly.

Already knowing who it was, Sokka turned his head towards Suki to reply to her. "Yeah, it is."

"Look, I know you're just trying to help, but I can take care of myself," Suki began as she sat next to him.

"I know you can."

"Then why are you acting so overprotective?" Suki questioned him.

"It's hard to lose someone you care about or you think you care about," he replied as his gaze turned towards the lake. "Something happened at the North Pole and I couldn't protect someone. I don't want anything like that to ever happen again."

"I lost someone I cared about once," Suki spoke thoughtfully. "He didn't die, he just went away. I only had a few days to get to know him, but he was smart, brave, and funny."

"Who is this guy?" Sokka asked as he stood up. "Is he taller than me?"

"No, he's about your height." Suki replied with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

"Is he better looking?"

With a small laugh in her voice, she replied saying, "It _is_ you, stupid!"

"Oh…" Sokka responded with a small blush on his cheeks.

Suki stood up next to him and looked deeply into Sokka's eyes as he looked into hers. The two teens drew their faces closer together, slightly parting their lips as they connected for their first passionate kiss.

A moment later that felt like an eternity later they broke apart and once more gazed into the soul filled eyes of each other.

"That was nice," said Sokka breaking the silence.

"Just nice?" questioned Suki.

"Okay fine, it was the single best experience I've had since I left the South Pole," Sokka corrected. "I only said it was nice, so I wouldn't sound so clichéd."

"Actually, it's much better. It's you," Suki then leaned forward giving Sokka one last kiss before walking back to the camp, but not without makeing sure he took notice of her rhythmically swaying hips.

* * *

Iroh stood on the deck of the ferry overlooking the water. Ever since the events of the North Pole; things had been happening one after the other leaving little time to meditate on the things that had recently occurred. His nephew had been hastened into making a deal with the elder spirit of fire and was now tasked with not only balancing the world, but also tasked with a harsh fate to save the lives of his people. It may be legal to do by Fire Nation customs, but only because it had been needed ages past. The thought of it being needed now was a deep shock to the system.

"Do you think I am cruel, old dragon?" asked a fiery sounding voice next to him.

Iroh turned to see a blue skinned female standing next to him, just above his now sleeping nephew. "You are the elder spirit?" he inquired.

"I am, old dragon." Aoihi replied. "Now, do you think I am cruel?"

"It is hard to say, spirit. It is a task that must be done if the war is to ever truly be over, but to have someone end the life of their direct blood family is a dire request to make."

"So, it would be better to allow them to live? To continue the work of Sozin? And what of the girl, who would burn the fire just as much as the air, water, and earth?"

"That is why I have yet to say it was cruel of you, elder spirit," replied Iroh. He then looked done at his nephew somberly and then shifted his gaze back up at Aoihi. "He'll do as you have asked of him spirit, if that is what concerns you. He may hate it and after he does it, he may spend the rest of his days cursing you, but he _will_ do it."

"I know he will, I'm just waiting to see your reaction, old dragon," said Aoihi as she faded from view.

Just as Aoihi finished disappearing back to the Spirit World, Zuko was roused from his slumber. "Uncle, what are you looking at? Is there something out there?" Zuko asked sleepily.

"It is nothing nephew. Go back to sleep," Iroh replied.

Shrugging his shoulders, Zuko laid his head back down and a moment later was asleep once again.

* * *

Sweat dipped steadily down Jin's face as she concentrated. She was standing in her mindscape again trying to perfect the highest form of earthbending known as bonebending. The bones in the human body were made up of minerals and minerals were part of the earth. Therefore, she should be able to control the movement of people. The only problem was doing it so that no bones were broken in any way. In her mindscape she could call upon whatever sort of sparring partner or training dummy she wanted, so Jin had called upon a skeleton and set it so that if I bone was broken a new training skeleton would appear. At last count, Jin had gone through sixty-nine skeletons. Needless to say, she was getting tired.

Just as she was about to step out of her mindscape, the realm wavered and Kiirojimen appeared in front of her.

"Is something wrong, Kiirojimen?" Jin asked the elder spirit.

"It is time for one of the champions to come forth to establish a sign of peace that we haven't called upon the champions to destroy the young airbender. You have been chosen to be that champion. When you exit from your mindscape, you will find a set of clothes next to you. Put them on, they are to help conceal your identity; for now," Kiirojimen explained to his champion. "You will find the Avatar and his companions on Serpent's Pass. You are to go there and connect them across from the path that starts to go underwater to the path that continues on the other side. Remember, do not reveal your identity; simply let the Avatar know that the champions are in Ba Sing Se."

"The others are here?" Jin asked. "When will we meet?"

"In two weeks time the champions will meet." With his final words spoken, Kiirojimen faded out of Jin's mindscape.

With the spirit's instructions in mind, Jin left her mindscape. Jin opened her eyes to find herself sitting in her pit. As she looked around, she saw that the clothes Kiirojimen had spoken of were placed next to her on her right, neatly folded.

'_So, this is it?_' Jin asked herself as she picked up the outfit and looked at it. '_Let the change begin._' Jin then quickly shed her clothes and placed on the new clothes. Once she was finished she looked down at herself. '_Not bad._'

"I'm coming Avatar," Jin spoke aloud as she opened a hole beneath herself and began bending herself through the earth with rapid speed and grace.

* * *

The members of Team Avatar, along with the refugees they were escorting, walked quietly along the narrow path of Serpent's Pass. They had awoken early that morning and were making good time. As they walked down the steep slope of the path they suddenly stopped; as the path they were walking on suddenly ended, leading straight into Serpent's Lake.

"What do we do now?" Suki asked. They could see that the path continued on the other side of the water. But it wasn't like they could all swim across the water to reach it.

"Everyone single file," Katara said as she began to bend the water away.

"Wait, what's that?" Sokka cried as he pointed towards the sky.

Everyone, except Toph, looked to where he was pointing and was puzzled as they saw what appeared to be a hooded figure standing on a floating piece of earth. The figure wore what looked like dark green armor and a black hooded cloak. The edging of the hood was green. The figure's mouth was also hidden by a green veil. (**A/N: Imagine the outfit looking like Altaïr's assassin outfit; from the game Assassin's Creed, but it's black and green instead of white and red.**)

Without warning the figure suddenly moved; thrusting their arms high into the air. The ground below Team Avatar began to shake and the group watched as earth erupted from the water; continuing the path in the form of a new peak along Serpent's Pass. As everyone stared in wonder at what had happened, the air was pierced by a deafening screech as the water on the left side of the group erupted.

Shooting out of the water was a giant monster, the obvious reason why the path was called Serpent's Pass, unlike anything the young travelers had ever seen. The large green sea serpent lunged towards the floating figure. The hooded figure thrust out their right arm hard and without seeming to touch the serpent; sent the creature flying, causing it to hit the water hard.

"Whoa," was all Katara could say about what had happened.

"I'm going to find out who they are," stated Aang as he released the wings of his glider.

As Aang flew towards the floating person, a rock platform broke off from the newly risen earth and floated up towards the figure; stopping just a couple of yards in front of the unknown earthbender. Presuming the rock was for him to stand on, Aang pulled out of his flight and landed on the floating earth. Being closer to the hidden bender, Aang could tell that certain noticeable anatomy features indicated that the hooded person was female.

"Who are you?" Aang asked directly.

"Is it not obvious to you?" she responded with her own question. "I am the champion of earth."

Her voice was soft and yet firm as hard as iron ore. Unlike Toph's who was more along the lines of hard and harsh sounding most of the time. '_Toph might have met her match with this bender,_' Aang thought to himself.

"Are you and the other champions here to fight me?" Aang asked

"No. We have been ordered with different tasks to do."

"Why did you help me?"

"I was told by the elder spirits to do so. You have more pressing matters to address then a hungry sea serpent," replied the champion. "I will take my leave of you." The champion then turned around and sped off on their platform of earth.

The earth under Aang's feet shook as it began to break apart. He quickly jumped into the air and summoned his glider, to chase after the earth champion.

Just as he was coming upon her, the champion hurled down to earth and bent the ground into swallowing her.

Aang landed a moment later and placed his hand on the ground to sense where she was in the ground. His eyes opened as he realized that she wasn't within his sensing range. '_That's fast,_' he thought to himself thinking of the speed of which she bent the earth.

He jumped into the air once again and began flying back to his friends.

* * *

'_I can't believe I met the Avatar._' Jin thought to herself as she bent the earth around her. '_Although, he did seem rather… childish for being the Avatar. I mean really, walking under the water? That's just foolish. Bending up the earth from under the water like I did would have been a better thing to do. No wonder Kiirojimen wanted me to go and help him. If I hadn't, he probably would have had to fight the sea serpent._'

As she neared the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se, Jin stopped her bending as she felt massive vibrations surge through the earth. '_What was that?_' She asked herself as she bent the earth to bring her up to the ground.

Once out of the earth, Jin gasped as she beheld the sight of monstrosity in front of her. '_Spirits above, that's big. When I told the Avatar he had pressing matters to address this isn't what I had in mind._'

The sheer size of the drill was impressive enough alone. '_Never let it be said that the Fire Nation lacks imagination. Now, the question is do I interfere or not?_' Shifting her gaze back to where Serpent's Pass lay and then to the Outer Wall, Jin reached her decision as she settled once more on the drill. '_I don't think I will. I want to see how the Avatar plans to handle this._'

Bending up a comfortable chair of earth, Jin sat down and waited for the show to start.

'_I am so glad I'm off work today._'

* * *

The small ferry sailed slowly through the thick morning fog, nearing its destination. Zuko was standing at the bow of the ferry searching through the fog for the first signs of the legendary city, Ba Sing Se.

"You know, as soon as I saw your scar, I knew exactly who you were," came Jet's voice to his left.

It took every ounce of self-control Zuko had to keep his face neutral. Deep inside, he wanted to attack the Earth Kingdom citizen and throw him overboard. After all, Zuko couldn't risk anyone discovering who he and his uncle were; just yet.

"You're an outcast, like me, and us outcasts have to stick together. We have to watch each other's backs, because no one else will," Jet finished.

Deep inside the recesses of his mind, Zuko was breathing a large sigh of relief. '_Thank the spirits he doesn't really know,_' the exiled prince thought to himself. "I've realized lately, that being on your own isn't always the best path," Zuko spoke in a grim sagely voice; praying he sounded wise.

In the distance, Zuko could see the rocky cliffs emerging through the mist and just beyond them stood the Outer Wall.

* * *

Yue, or rather Kimiko, was quietly walking down the street to her next possible job interview. Yue had found a flyer earlier that was advertising for help at a bar called, Virgo. The bar was located in the Middle Ring.

After a few more minutes of walking, Yue found the bar. The building was rather plain looking, it was of the same stony texture as its neighboring buildings. Virgo was only two stories tall with a sign that had the bar's name on it. The roof was a nice green tiled.

'_It looks nice,_' Yue thought to herself as she approached the door of the bar. As she opened the thick polished wooden door, Yue could see that the inside was also plain. Booths lined the walls, except on the right. To the right was a stage, most likely for a band or performer. Directly in front of her was the bar and scattered throughout the large room were tables for various customers to sit and drink at.

Standing behind the bar was a tall slender woman with tanned skin and brown hair. She was wearing a dark green tunic and had a dish rag in her hand as she and with it cleaned the glass she was holding in her other hand.

"Are you, Kyine?" Yue asked as she approached the bar. The flyer had said to ask for the owner, Kyine.

"Yes, I am. How can I help you?" replied the woman.

"My name's Kimiko and I am here for the job position mentioned in the flyer," replied Yue as she showed the woman the flyer in her hand.

"So…, you want to be a bouncer?" Kyine asked skeptically.

"Yes. I believe that I would be a perfect candidate to fill the position."

"What makes you say that?"

Yue raised her right arm and gently moved her right hand to the left, lowered it and flexed out her fingers. As she did this, Kyine's right hand moved up and moved over more to the right. Her hand then placed the glass down and released it. All of this, was done against Kynie's will. Kynie turned to look at Kimiko for an explanation.

"As you just saw and felt; I'm a waterbender. The human body is made up of seventy percent of water, so if anyone starts a drunken brawl in here; I can quite literally throw them out," Yue explained.

Kyine stared at the young woman in front of her with a thoughtful expression on her face as she weighted the pros and cons of hiring this young bender. After what seemed like a few hours, but was really a few seconds, Kyine asked, "How soon can you start work?"

"I can start right now," replied Yue eagerly. "Does this mean I've got the job?"

"Nice enthusiasm. Yes, you've got the job, if you pass your week hiring probation. You'll start tomorrow and work four nights a week. Your shift will be from eight at night to four in the morning. You'll make four gold pieces an hour and whenever you do throw someone out, you're free to take whatever money they have on them. Understand?"

Yue nodded her head, indicating that everything was understood and fine with her.

"Now, all the bouncers wear a uniform. Your pants can be whatever you want, though I recommend they be something strong and long lasting. Now, the shirt will be the same as the other bouncers. It's black and identifies you as the security of this bar. I've got a few spare shirts in my office upstairs. Come on, I'll get you one." Kyine then came out from behind the bar and walked up the stairs to her office with Yue walking behind her.

"This is the employee break room," Kyine said pointing out the door to the left. They then walked a little further down the hall and came to a stop in front of a door that Kyine took out a key to open. "This is my office."

Once the door was open, Kyine and Yue stepped inside and Yue saw that the office was as plain as the rest of the building. There was a desk and a couple of filing cabinets. The room was also quite clean. Kyine opened one of the bottom drawers and pulled out a black tunic that was part of the bouncer's uniform. The tunic was black and on the left breast of it was the name of the bar etched in green. On the sleeves and the back of the shirt was the kanji for security.

"Try this one." Kyine said as she tossed the tunic to Yue.

Yue got the tunic on, but it was too small for her and felt restricted. "I don't think this one will work," replied Yue, handing the tunic back to Kyine.

"Alright, here's a bigger one." Kyine said as she handed a bigger tunic to Yue.

The second one fit much better. "This one works nicely."

"Okay then, here's two more of the same size. These are your work uniform shirts and you are to wear them when you are working. Now, I want you here about thirty minutes early tomorrow night, so I can introduce you to the girls and your fellow bouncer."

"Alright, Mrs. Kyine." Yue replied as she took off the tunic and grabbed the others.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow night then." Kyine said as they left the office.

Yue then left Virgo and headed back to her apartment to put her uniform tunics away and to train some.

* * *

'_How long does it take him to get back?_' Jin asked herself. It had been several minutes since the Avatar had flown to the Outer Wall, took notice of the drill and then flew back.

A moment later, Jin felt the earth rumble and looked over the canyon to the Avatar and his team riding a wave of earth towards the Outer Wall. Taking a closer look, Jin saw that the woman who had been pregnant earlier was now carrying a newborn baby. '_Did she give birth?_' Jin asked herself. '_I hope everything went okay for the birth._'

Once they were out of sight, Jin began to make her way after them, to hide in the shadows and see how the Avatar would handle stopping the drill.

* * *

Zuko and Iroh sat on a bench at the bottom of a tall pillar waiting to board the train to Ba Sing Se. Several groups had already gone ahead, but the two firebenders waited.

"That really was a stupid thing you did with your tea, Uncle." Zuko finally spoke after a long wait.

"The tea was cold. It needs to be warm to hot. How was I to know someone would see it?" Iroh replied.

Earlier, Iroh had bought some tea that turned out to be cold and heated it discreetly with his firebending, by raising the liquid's temperature. Unfortunately, this had been noticed by Jet, who had tried to recruit Zuko to join his Freedom Fighters. Zuko had refused, seeing how Jet seemed slightly hostile about firebenders. So far, they were lucky that Jet hadn't said anything, but one could never be too careful.

"What's the plan, once we're inside the city?" Zuko asked.

"First, we will need to meet my contact. Then, we need to adjust to city life. After that, I suggest we enjoy this rest as long as we can," replied Iroh.

"Rest? What _rest_, uncle?"

"Nephew, you have been running as hard and as fast as you can ever since your banishment. Now, while I am glad you've seen that there are more important things in life than capturing the Avatar, you have been tasked with an unforgiving burden from the elder spirit of fire."

"I can complete that task," Zuko replied with a slight scoff.

"Can you? Can you really kill your sister and father?" Iroh asked.

Unable to reply, Zuko just stared ahead in silence. The silence didn't last long as a voice called out, "All aboard to Ba Sing Se." Zuko and Iroh stood up and made their way onto the train, where Iroh grabbed them a seat next to a young couple with a newborn baby. The train then gave a slight jolt as it began to move towards the city.

* * *

'_That's it?_' Jin thought to herself in a deadpanned voice. '_Why didn't he just bend the earth and push the drill back? Or gee, break it?_' Jin had spent nearly all day just outside the Outer Walls, watching the Avatar's team take down the drill. At the end of it all, Jin was not impressed with what she saw. Instead of forcing the invading Fire Nation drill back or tipping it over, the Avatar and his friends decided to go inside the drill to cut through the metal bracers; all while risking getting captured. This had taken them so long, that the drill was able to break through the Outer Wall.

'_I know my metalbending isn't strong enough yet to have split that drill, but even I know it would have been better to use my current metalbending skills to push it back all the way to Serpent's Lake._' Jin thought to herself as she turned to earthbend herself back home.

'_I guess the elder spirits really do need our help. If that's the current Avatar, we are all going to die before this war is over._'

* * *

Zuko and Iroh calmly walked through the streets of Ba Sing Se's Lower Ring. They were in the Firma District walking towards an apartment complex called, Deim Apartment Complex. When they arrived at the apartment complex, Iroh and Zuko made their way inside and knocked on the manager's door.

The door opened after a moment, revealing a young woman. She appeared to be in her mid-twenties and was of an average height. She had long mousy brown hair, tied back into four braids. "Welcome Mushi, Lee, I've been expecting you. I am Amrita," Said the woman. "Fong sent a letter ahead of you," Amrita explained after seeing Zuko's look of suspicion.

Zuko and Iroh walked into Amrita's office and sat down in the chairs in front of the desk. Amrita closed the door and sat behind her desk. Once seated, she began to speak, "I have an apartment reserved for the two of you. Fong paid for the first four days, so the two of you or one of you will need to get job soon to continue to pay for it." She then opened one of the desk drawers and pulled out a slip of paper. "Here's a few places, that I know of, that are looking for workers," Amrita said as she handed Iroh the paper. When Iroh took the paper, Amrita took out two keys and handed them to Zuko and Iroh. "These are the keys to your apartment. You will be living in apartment 208."

The two exiles bowed and left the office heading for their new apartment as it was getting late and it had been ages since they had gotten a decent night's sleep.

* * *

"I would just like to say, good work out there today Team Avatar," said Sokka as he, Aang, Toph, and Katara looked out across the barren land and watched the sunset. Well, everyone except Toph that is. It had been hard work stopping the massive drill from the Fire Nation, but they did it.

"Enough with the _Team Avatar_ already," Katara said with an exasperated sigh. "No matter how many times you say it, it won't catch on."

"How about the 'Boomerang Squad', see it's got 'Aang' in it." Sokka explained. "Boomer-Aang," he continued as he patted Aang's head.

"I kind of like that one," replied the young Avatar, offering his opinion on the group name.

"Let's talk about this on our way to the city," Katara said as she began to walk away.

"I'm afraid you won't be able to get into the city until tomorrow." replied an approaching voice.

The young group looked to see General Sung walking towards them.

"What do you mean 'we won't be able to get into the city until tomorrow'?" Sokka asked the general.

"The trains stop running to the Outer Wall when the sun sets. In fact, the last train left about fifteen minutes ago," explained General Sung. "The next train won't arrive until eight forty-five tomorrow morning. You're all more than welcome to sleep here in the bunks."

"I guess we wait until tomorrow to get into the city," Katara said with dejected sigh.

"Come on, Sugar Queen, let's hit the sack already. I'm tired," spoke a drowsy Toph.

Team Avatar followed the general and made their way towards the Outer Wall's sleeping barracks for the Earth Kingdom Army.

* * *

The sun shone brightly in the sky above as Zuko and Iroh walked walk down a busy market street. Zuko turned his head as Iroh caught up to him. Taking note of the large vase and bright flowers, Zuko arched his eyebrow at his uncle's odd purchase.

Seeing Zuko's look, Iroh spoke saying, "I just want our new place to look nice in case someone beings home a lady friend." As though to emphasis his point, Iroh gently nudged Zuko with his elbow.

"This place feels like a prison. How can people make a life for themselves here?" Zuko asked with a slightly depressing tone as he looked around at the poor conditions of Ba Sing Se's Lower Ring.

"Life happens wherever you are, whether you make it or not. Please nephew, try to let yourself live some while we are here." Iroh implored. "I doubt you'll have much of a chance once we leave," added the retired general. For both exiles knew their stay in the city would be a short one.

"I'll try uncle. For you, I will try," Zuko replied humbly.

Iroh smiled contently for a moment before breaking out into a grin. "Good. Now come on, I found us some jobs and we start _this_ afternoon."

"What sort of job, Uncle?" Zuko asked, curious about their coming employment.

"Oh, just this little shop near our apartment." Iroh explained off-handedly.

With a mental shrug to himself, Zuko continued walking down the street with Iroh.

* * *

As the carriage slowly trotted down the road, Aang could help but feel slightly uneasy due to the woman sitting across from him, Katara, and Toph. '_I don't know what it is, but there is something wrong with Joo-Dee. No one smiles that much. Not even me and I'm the Avatar,_' Aang thought to himself. '_There's something wrong here. Something's wrong with this city._'

* * *

Zuko looked around at the drab walls of the small tea shop he was in. '_It had to be a tea shop. Of all the places for uncle to get us jobs, it _has_ to be a freaking tea shop._' Zuko thought to himself with a slight undertone of anger. The slight upside, was that he wouldn't have to do any of the brewing only serving the tea.

"Well, you certainly look like official tea servers," said Pao, a thin middle-aged man who owned the tea shop. "How do you feel?"

"I feel ridiculous," Zuko replied, glancing down at his work apron.

Next to Zuko, Iroh was in the midst of trying desperately to tie his apron's stings together. "Uh, does this possibly come in a larger size?"

"I have some extra string in back," Pao replied as he poured two cups of tea. "Here have some tea while you wait." Pao handed the two cups to tea to Zuko and Iroh, before walking to the back for the extra string.

Iroh took a small sip of the tea before quickly pulling it away in disgust. "This tea is nothing more than hot leaf juice!" he proclaimed.

"Uncle, that's what _all_ tea is," Zuko commented with an exasperated sigh.

"How can a member of my own family, say something so horrible?" Iroh then picked up the kettle and headed to the window with it. "We'll have to make some major changes around here," Iroh said as he threw the hot leaf juice out.

Zuko simply rolled his eyes and took a sip of the tea, from his own cup. Upon tasting it, Zuko decided that his Uncle might have a point. Any tea he had been severed on his ship was never as bad as what he had just tasted.

* * *

Yue walked calmly down the streets heading towards Virgo, for her first night of work. She was wearing a pair of durable dark brown trousers and her work tunic. As requested by, Kyine, she was showing up early to get settled in. Yue arrived at Virgo a couple of minutes later and walked right in. Looking around, she saw Kyine behind the bar once again and this time three girls sweeping and wiping down tables.

"Kimiko, you're here. Good." Kyine said from across the room. The girls glanced over to see whom Kyine was talking to and took notice of Yue.

Yue walked over towards Kyine saying, "You said be here early, so I am."

"I'll introduce you to the waitresses first." Kyine then turned her head towards the three girls cleaning. "Girls, come over here for a moment."

The three young girls walked to bar and stood in front of Yue. The girl directly in front of her was a bit taller than Yue, by about half a head. She had a dark skin tone and oddly light brown hair. The girl to Yue's right was about Yue's height and had black hair to contrast beautifully with her pale complexion. The last girl, on Yue's left, was petite and a bit young looking. She had a slight tan to go with her long brown hair.

The girl in front of you is Lieu. On her left is, Nu. The girl on Lieu's right is, Tien," Kyine said introducing each girl. Kyine then turned to the three young girls and said, "This is Kimiko. Tonight's her first night with us."

"Oh, will she be a waitress too?" Tien asked in a chipper voice.

"Of course not. Can't you tell by what she's wearing?" came the stressed voice of Lieu.

"Hey, don't be rude to Tien, Lieu," barked the hard voice of Nu.

Either used to this or just not caring, Kyine continued on as though nothing happened. "No, Kimiko won't be a waitress. She's the new bouncer."

"She doesn't look like much," Lieu commented.

While normally, Nu would chastise her fellow co-worker, even she had to agree.

"I can assure you, she's good for the job," Kyine replied. "Now, the three of you get back to work. We open for business soon."

The three nodded their heads and went back to cleaning.

Kyine then turned to Yue and said, "Come on up to the break room, I'll introduce you to your co-worker." Kyine then walked upstairs, with Yue quickly fallowing after her.

Kyine opened the door to the break room and walked over to the room's only occupant, a tall muscular man. The man easily topped six feet and was most likely one of the tallest people Yue had ever met. He had brown hair tied back into a short ponytail at the base of his neck.

"Hey Dak-Ho," Kyine called getting his attention. "This is the girl I was telling you about, Kimiko." The bar owner continued nodding her head back to Yue.

"Hey," Dak-Ho called in greeting to Yue in a deep voice.

"Hello," Yue replied pleasantly.

"Listen, since it's her first night, I'm going to have her watch the door for the first four hours. The remaining three will be spent inside and the last hour, she'll join you in helping to close down the shop."

"Alright," he replied, nodding his head.

Kyine turned back to Yue, saying, "Now, I'll show you where you'll be working for the next four hours."

The two women walked back downstairs and went over to the entrance of the bar.

"Okay, you see how there are two entrances to get into the bar?" Kyine asked.

"Yes. There's the entrance you open to come in from the outside, were you enter into this small foyer. Then, there's the actual entrance into the bar itself."

"Correct. Now, your job is to be stationed in the foyer; sitting on that chair," Kyine said as she pointed to a chair that was on a slightly raised short-walled platform. "When watching the door, you are to look intimidating and keep riff-raff out as best you can. Now, if someone looks like they're just going to cause straight up trouble; you can refuse them entrance into the bar. If you hear a fight break out inside, you are to abandon your post and rush inside to help. Understand?"

Yue nodded her head in understanding.

"Okay, now in about four hours Dak-Ho will come out to relieve you. You then go inside and basically walk around look intimidating and help with some of the basic running of the bar like wiping down the tables and such."

"Is there anything else?"

"Nope, that's pretty much it. It's now time to open, so go ahead and sit on down," replied Kyine and she went and opened the front door; pulling it all the way open and leaving it open to indicate that the bar was now open to the public.

* * *

Zuko was lying down on the apartment's couch relaxing after his first afternoon as a waiter.

"Would you like some tea?" Iroh asked from the small kitchen across from the couch.

"We've been working in a tea shop all day," replied Zuko with a sigh. "I'm sick of tea!"

"Sick of tea?" Iroh questioned with fake shock lacing his voice. "That's like being sick of breathing." Iroh then turned around and began to rummage through the drawer.

'_Well, for the first few days after that attempted assassination by those pirates Zhao hired, I was sick of breathing._' Zuko thought to himself. It had been a pain filled couple of days after that incident. Zhao, a former admiral of the Fire Nation Navy, tried to have Zuko killed all on the assumption that Zuko was the thief known as the Blue Spirit. Sure Zhao was right, but at the time he had no proof.

"Have you seen our spark rocks?" Iroh asked, cutting through Zuko's thoughts of the former admiral.

"No, I haven't." Zuko replied.

Iroh shut the door and walked towards the entrance of the apartment. He stepped out for a moment and upon his quick return was holding two small emerald spark rocks. "I borrowed our neighbor's, such kind people." Iroh explained as he started a small fire to heat the water in the kettle. Normally, with them both being firebenders, they would make the fire themselves, but Iroh and Zuko were not fools. They knew someone was watching them and had a good idea who it was.

'_You'll have to do better than that, Jet._' Zuko thought a little smugly to himself. Zuko stood up from the couch and went into the adjoining room to turn in early for the evening.

* * *

Yue yawned loudly as she stretched, popping the kinks out of her back. It was hard to be intimidating when one kept yawning every few minutes. Luckily, her first four hours were almost over. The Northern Water Tribe princess was surprised when people kept coming in after eleven; she never knew people in the city stayed up so late. Just as she was relaxing back into the chair a loud crash was heard inside the bar.

Yue sprang to her feet, jumping over the small wall surrounding the chair and rushed inside. Yue saw three drunken guys trying to overtake Dak-Ho. Now, while not doing a spectacular job of putting the one bouncer down, they themselves weren't going down.

Knowing her time to act was now, Yue ran into the fray. The closest drunk to her was in the midst of lifting a barstool above his head to smash down onto the back of Dak-Ho's unprotected head. Coming up behind the man, Yue grabbed the back of the man's shirt and hoisted herself up by burying her left foot into the small of his back.

Feeling someone grabbing the back of his shirt and start to choke him, the man turned back just in time to see the tanned fist of an angry blue-eyed white haired woman slam into the side of his skull and send him crashing to the ground.

Yue looked up from her downed opponent at the two remaining drunks. She had knocked the barstool guy out with a well controlled burst of freezing waterbending on his brain. It didn't kill, just knocked people out and gave extremely bad headaches to the victim.

Seeing his friend go down the drunkard, not trying to choke Dak-Ho, decided to take on the busty Samaritan. Grabbing the bottle by the neck, he flipped it over and smashed it against a nearby table's corner. "Take this, you slut!!" He roared out drunkenly and charged.

Seeing the deranged idiot wielding a broken bottle come at her, Yue leaned far back as he took a weakened swing at her. Just as the sharp glass tips were passing over her stomach, Yue shot her foot out hard at the man's joining of his legs and was rewarded with a pleasantly shrill cry of pain. As Yue balanced back onto her feet, she pulled her fist back and slammed another burst of freezing waterbending into the bottle man's skull knocking him out as well.

Yue looked over at Dak-Ho and saw that he had subdued his own opponent into unconsciousness as was busy empting the money from the man's pockets. Looking down her own fallen opponents, Yue began searching their pockets for cash and turned a good profit of a hundred gold pieces, thirty-two silver pieces, and twenty-three bronze pieces. After stowing the money away in her money pouch, Yue and Dak-Ho dragged the three men to the foyer.

Just as Dak-Ho was about to toss the first man out, Yue spoke up and said, "Hold on a moment. I've got an idea." Wondering what the new girl's idea was, he turned around to see Yue taking off one of the drunk's shirts. "Help me get their clothes off."

"Why?" Dak-Ho asked her; he wasn't one for undressing another guy, no matter the circumstances.

"We're going to throw them out naked. This way, they'll be arrested for public indecency," explained Yue.

Seeing the evil reasoning, Dak-Ho agreed and began to help her.

After the long process of removing the clothes from the unconscious drunks, Dak-Ho turned to Yue and asked, "How do we toss them out, now?"

"Like this," replied Yue as she raised her arms in focus. She brought her arms up to her chest and then thrust them forward fast and hard. As she moved her arms, the men rose into the air and then flew out of the door.

"How did you do that?" Dak-Ho asked in surprise as he watched the drunks sail off into the distance.

"I did that with waterbending. The human body is filled with water, so it's simple to do," explained Yue.

"Nice show there," spoke a voice from behind them. Yue and Dak-Ho turned to see Kyine standing behind them with a small smirk on her face. "Those three have been causing trouble here for a while, but after what you just did, Kimiko, I doubt they'll be back for a long time."

"Um…, thanks?" Yue replied, unsure as how she should take the compliment.

"Come on, it's time for you to work inside now." Turning to Dak-Ho she added, "You got things covered up here?"

"Sure," he replied as he gathered the discarded clothes and dumped them in the trash for disposal.

Turning back to Yue, Kyine said, "Follow me."

Yue followed her boss back into the bar and went right up to the bar.

"After seeing what you did, I've decided to make you a full employee; your hiring probation is now over." Kyine began. "Since you're now a full employee, you get to choose a codename like the other bouncers. The only ones you can't use are bear, bull, hawk, and rhino."

Contemplating for a moment, Yue replied, "I pick serpent."

"Why pick serpent?" Kyine asked not seeing the connection.

"I've heard of the giant sea serpent that inhabits Serpent Lake. So, I picked that codename as I'm also a waterbender," explained Yue.

"Good choice. Now, it's time for you to start your inside work, by first cleaning up the mess that fight made. You'll find the broom, mop and bucket in the corner."

"Alright," Yue replied and began to turn around, but quickly found her face being pressed into two large black breasts.

"Thank you so much, for getting rid of those creeps, Kimiko," replied the owner who was hugging Yue to death.

Yue was able to look up from the cleavage to see that it was Lieu, hugging her. "You're welcome?" Yue replied with a heavy blush on her face, it was strange being hugged like this. It felt nice and pleasant.

"I think you broke Kimiko, Lieu," came the childish voice of Tien.

"Oh, sorry about that," replied Lieu as she released Yue in an embarrassed laugh and quickly removed herself by going to wait on the furthest customer from Yue.

Before Yue could get a word in, Tien hugged Yue by squeezing her tightly. "Thank you, Kimiko." She cried before going back to waiting on people.

"You're wondering, why they acted like that aren't you?" asked a monotone voice next to her.

Yue looked to see the last waitress, Nu, standing next to her. "Yeah, I am," replied Yue.

"Well, Tien's always like that. She's friendly to everyone. I've yet to see her not be friends with someone. You'd have to be a truly evil person for her not to like you. Granted, I've never seen her warm up to someone as quickly as I have with you," Nu began. "Now, Lieu, is a bit different. That second guy you knocked out as been giving Lieu some trouble here at work, so she normally wasn't happy the past couple of months. But, now that you've probably gotten rid of the guy for good, she may start being lot happier."

"Oh, well. I was just trying to do the right thing, but I'm glad she's happy to."

"Yeah. So, I'll go ahead and offer my thanks too."

"You want to hug me too?"

"No," replied Nu. She then leaned over and gently kissed Yue on her left cheek. "Thanks." Nu said as she broke the kiss.

"Why did you do that?" Yue asked as a small blush appeared on her cheeks.

"Because I wanted to," replied Nu simply. The young waitress then turned and went back to waiting on the customers.

Yue stood next to the bar in a slightly pleasant daze and she let the strange butterflies in her stomach settle.

"Serpent!! That mess ain't going to clean itself. Get to it." Barked Kyine from behind her and bringing her out of her daze.

"Yes, ma'am," replied Yue in a rush as she ran to grab the broom and start sweeping the glass.

'_This is not how I imagined my first day at my first job would turn out,_' the former spirit thought to herself.

* * *

This was really starting to get annoying. All day he had watched them and not once did they ever look like they were going to firebend. How? How could they not firebend? He was sure the old man was a firebender, he saw him with the hot cup of tea. Since, Lee was his nephew, he had to be a firebender too.

"Jet, we _need_ to talk," came the stressed voice of Smellerbee from behind him.

The former freedom fighter leader known as Jet turned to look at his long time companions, Smellerbee and Longshot. "Oh good, it's you guys. Where have you both been? I could use some help with surveillance here." Jet said as they walked up next to him.

"We've been talking and we think you're becoming obsessed with this," Smellerbee began slowly. This wasn't going to be a delightful conversation. "It's not healthy."

"Oh, really? Do you both think this?" Jet questioned his friends with a slight rise of his eyebrow.

As usual, Longshot never spoke, but he put a hand on Smellerbee's shoulder in a clear sign of support. "Jet, we came here to make a fresh start, but you won't let this go. Even though there's no real proof!"

"Well, maybe if you guys would help me," Jet countered for his lack of evidence.

"Jet, you have got to stop this." Smellerbee said as she grabbed her hair in frustration.

"Maybe, you've forgotten why we need to start over. Maybe, you've forgotten about how the Fire Nation left us all homeless. How they wiped out all the people we loved." Jet replied with anger in his voice. "If you don't want to help me, fine then. I'll get the evidence _on my own_." Jet exited the alley and headed across the street to Pao's Family Tea House.

"Jet, don't," Smellerbee cried in a low panicked voice. She knew her old friend was going to cause trouble and it wouldn't end well for him. She had been around the city and took notice of how people reacted to those people all wearing the same dark green robes and how no one dared to mention the war in any sort of fashion. She tried to reach after him and drag him back, but was stopped by a firm hand on her shoulder. She turned her head back to look at her boyfriend's face and saw him shake his head.

"You're right Longshot, it's his decision to go down this path. But, it still doesn't make it any easier. We're his oldest friends," replied Smellerbee. "I never thought our friendship would end like this."

The young couple looked across the alley just in time to see the door to the tea house door burst open from Jet going through it. Their friend was quickly followed out by Lee, a refugee they met on the ferry ride over. The clash of their swords filled the air, but even that wasn't enough to drown out Jet's voice as he accused Lee about being a firebender.

From what Smellerbee could see, Lee wasn't a firebender at all; just a very good swordsmen. '_Impressive, no one's been able to keep up with Jet for this long without getting a cut before,_' she thought to herself. Very carefully, Smellerbee and Longshot moved with the gathering crowed. Making sure to keep watch on the fight, but also making sure Jet wouldn't call on them for help. He chose this and he needed to accept it.

"Drop your weapons," called a hard angry voice over the fighting.

Smellerbee looked towards the direction of the voice and felt her heart skip a beat. '_Oh crap, it's them,_' she thought to herself. Standing in the street were two men wearing the dark green robes that she saw people cower before.

Lee immediately released his hold on his weapon, but Jet kept his as he declared Lee and his Uncle to be firebenders. Lee's uncle, the tea shop owner, and the city guards were all able to counter this and all Jet could do was yell that they were firebenders. The men approached Jet and when he showed resistance, they easily took him down by force. As they dragged Jet to the back of an armored carriage, all he kept doing was dig himself deeper into his hole by shouting that firebenders were in Ba Sing Se.

As the carriage rode out of sight down the darkened street, Smellerbee and Longshot looked after it for a moment before walking away with the crowed. '_We'll try to find you Jet,_' Smellerbee vowed to herself.

The problem, was how to find someone in a city this big, when you couldn't ask where the person was.

**

* * *

Next Chapter: Fight Club**

**Well, there's the fourth chapter. I hope you enjoyed reading it, please leave a review. At last count I've only gotten eleven reviews. Which begs the question, where are all the Zuko/Jin fans at? In case you're wondering Zuko and Jin will meet in chapter six. Chapter six will be covering their date from Jin's point of view. I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can; because by the end of next month until the end of August I'll be extremely busy.**

**In the meantime, what would you like to see?**


	5. Fight Club

**Spirit of Fire**

**Chapter 5: Fight Club**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender**

* * *

It had been a peaceful couple of days since incident at the tea house and Zuko was adjusting well enough to being a waiter. He still didn't like tea like his uncle did, but at least Iroh wasn't quoting a tea based proverb every few minutes. Zuko was also pleasant enough with the customers. Sure, it was Iroh and Pao that would normally talk to the customers, but even with only three days under his belt Zuko could see who was a regular. '_Granted, with uncle's brewing skills it seems that the regulars are increasing,_' thought Zuko to himself as he looked over at the tables. It was only three in the afternoon and seven of the tea house's ten tables were full.

At that moment, the door opened as a young man with short dark brown hair, a few years older than himself Zuko guessed, walked in and sat at the table to the right of the door; one of the furthest ones from the cash counter. Grabbing the one of the tea house's small menus, Zuko walked over to the man to give him the menu to make his choice as to which type of tea he would prefer to drink.

"Welcome, to Pao's Family Tea House," greeted Zuko to the man. "We have a nice variety of teas to choose from. Please, let me know if you'd like to know more about them."

"Actually, there is something I'd like to know more about, but it's not about tea," began the man. "I'd like to know more about you and that fight you had a couple of nights ago."

"What about it?" Zuko replied evenly.

"Well, I was watching the fight and I couldn't help but notice something," the man said as he turned to lock eyes with Zuko. "You seemed to rather enjoy that fight."

Zuko stared hard at the man, not seeing the stranger's point.

"My name is, Jao. And I am part of a group of people who enjoy a good fight."

"What do you want with me then?" Zuko asked him.

"As I said, you enjoyed that fight. Tell me… does the city life frustrate you? Ever wish you could just pound the shit out of something or better yet, someone?" Jao asked.

Still being weary of the man, Zuko nodded softly.

"That's what we do; we get together and we fight. The fighting relives stress and keeps us from doing something worse. Plus, it's an easy way to make money," explained Jao.

"Why come to me?" Zuko asked.

"To invite you to join," answered Jao. "You can only join by invitation. I can't tell you where it is, until you join."

"Why is that?"

"We follow some strict rules, but thanks to them the Dai Li have yet to find us to shut us down."

Zuko pondered in his head what this group could be doing that would go against the Dai Li. It made it sound like a good time.

"I'll give you sometime to think about it and comeback tonight. I'll be waiting outside the shop if you decide to join." Jao said as he stood up. Then, with a bow of his head the man left the shop.

Zuko stared after the man for a moment; in thought. If this was a trap, he and Iroh were screwed. Correction, he'd be screwed because he'd be the one walking into it. '_But if it's not a trap, this might be a good thing,_' Zuko thought as he picked the menu up off the table and walked back to the counter. The exiled prince had to admit to himself, it would feel nice to get into a fight like the one he had with Jet again. The problem was that would end with the city guards or worse the Dai Li. So, maybe this would be a good thing and Jao did say it was a way to make some money and Zuko needed money.

'_I guess I could try it,_' Zuko decided as he began cleaning the dishes.

* * *

"_JIN!_" yelled out a loud voice.

Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, Jin stood up from her workstation and made her way to the front of the dress shop for the fifteenth time within the last hour at her boss's call.

"Yes, Ms. Xao?" Jin asked as she walked up to her employer.

"An urgent order just came in. I'll need you to work on them tomorrow. Everything you need to know about the order is on the paper." Ms. Xao said as she handed Jin a slip of paper. "Now, have you finished hymning those dresses for Mr. Lao's daughter?"

"Not yet, I have two more dresses to do; then, I'll be done." Jin replied.

"Well, finish them and then you can leave for the day."

"Yes, Ms. Xao." Jin then turned and made her way back to her workstation. '_I'm probably the strongest Earthbender in the city and yet, I still have to put up with this shit._' Jin thought to herself with a hint of annoyance. '_I'm not asking to be worshiped or even bowed down to, but a little recognition would be nice._'

With a sigh, Jin sat back down and began to once more start on the long tedious task of hymning the formal dress in front of her.

* * *

As Zuko cleaned the tea house's cups he thought of what he should say to his uncle to inform him that he would be going out.

"Umm… Uncle?" He called a little hesitantly.

"Yes Lee?" Iroh replied from the stovetop.

"I'll be going out this evening. Will you able to cover the late shift?"

"I should be able to, but where are you going?" Inquired Iroh.

"A guy by the name of Jao came by the shop and we hit it off. He asked if I wanted to 'hang out' with him and some of his friends down at the market this evening," replied Zuko.

Now, despite his age and no longer being a general, Iroh knew a lie when he heard one and Zuko was lying to him so badly that he might have well as just worn a sign confessing as much. The problem was that Zuko expressed such a rare desirer to be social that when he did, Iroh didn't want to squander it.

"Nothing illegal will be going own I take it?" Iroh asked with an arched eyebrow.

"No, nothing like that Uncle," replied Zuko.

"Alright then, have fun."

"Thank you, Uncle." Zuko replied. With his plans for the night made, Zuko went back to washing the cups; preparing them for the coming late shift.

* * *

Smiling softly to herself, Jin was thrilled to be off work. She knew her job helped with family expenses and such, but she did enjoy it when she didn't have to work. All she had to do now was stop by her parent's favorite bar and pick up a case of their favorite drink from Virgo.

'_All I have to do is get the drinks and then the rest of the night is mine,_' Jin thought to herself as she opened the door and walked in.

Upon opening the door and entering the building, Jin walked straight to the bar where Virgo's owner, Kyine, was standing. "Evening, Kyine. How's business?"

"Evening, Jin. Business around here is going great. I was finally able to hire another bouncer a couple of days ago," replied the bar owner.

"Really, where's he at?" Jin asked.

"_She_ is right over there." Kyine answered pointing to a corner behind Jin.

Jin turned her head back to see a girl, roughly her own age, with a light tan standing tall in the corner. She had on the traditional black tunic shirt of the bouncers at Virgo wore. The most captivating things about her were her snow white hair and the oddity of her eyes. The girl's right eye was pale blue, while her left eye was a darker colder shade of blue. '_It almost looks like ice,_' Jin thought with a shiver.

"Her name's Kimiko, but we call her Serpent." Kyine continued.

"Why the name Serpent?" Jin asked as she turned back to face Kyine.

"Well, Kimiko is a waterbender and has heard about the sea serpent in Serpent's Lake. So, she picked that name. Plus, she's fast and deadly like a serpent. First night on the job and she took out two guys by herself."

"Impressive."

"Yeah, one of the idiots she took out was Lieu's ex-."

"Is that jerk still coming around? When is he going to get it that Lieu is gay now?"

"I think he'll get it now, after the beating Kimiko gave. Besides, I think Lieu might have found herself a girl."

"Good for her. Any idea who it is?" Jin asked.

"I think it might be Kimiko," replied Kyine.

Jin took a quick glance back at the new bouncer before asking, "Are you sure? She doesn't look the type."

"Well, after ridding my bar of Lieu's ex-, Lieu got a little over affectionate in her thanking Kimiko. However, Kimiko didn't seem to mind one bit."

"I wish Lieu the best of luck then."

"She'll need it too. Cause she isn't the only one with her eyes on Kimiko."

"Don't tell me…"

"Yep, Nu also has her eyes on Kimiko."

"Damn. You know it's going to end badly unless some sort of agreement between them."

"Yeah, but it's not my place to interfere with their lives."

Shrugging her shoulders, Jin asked, "Anyway, about the order?"

"Yeah, I've got it right here," replied Kyine as she bent down a lifted up a crate filled with twenty-five corked bottles. "One crate of Poitin, as ordered by your parents."

"Thanks. You wouldn't happen to have…"

"Your own order?" Kyine asked with a smirk. "Yeah, I've got it," she replied as she bent back down to lift up a smaller crate with only sixteen corked bottles. "One small crate of Ignis Crepito, as you ordered. (**A/N: It's a very rough translation, but Ignis Crepito is supposed to be Latin for Fire Cream.**) You are the only person I know who drinks this pain in the ass of a drink."

"Thanks, Kyine," replied Jin. "I drink it, because it's great. Sure it may come from a nation of blood thirsty warmongers, but it's still a great drink."

"Whatever you say," replied Kyine as Jin paid for the crates of alcohol.

"I'll see you around, Kyine." Jin said as she picked up the crates and turned to leave.

"See ya kid, tell your parents I said hello." Kyine called back as Jin left through the door.

* * *

With his work done for the evening, Zuko hung up his apron and with a quick good bye to his uncle he was out the door. Looking across the street he saw Jao leaning against a building, waiting.

"So, you've decided to join in?" Jao asked as Zuko approached him.

"I haven't made my decision yet," replied Zuko. "I thought I'd see if this was as you say it is."

"Fair enough. We just ask that you don't tell anyone about us."

"Fine."

The two men walked for nearly an hour around the Lower Ring, sticking to the alleyways and back streets. They ended their journey in front of a small bookstore; that Jao walked into, ushering Zuko to follow him. Inside the store, Jao walked up to the counter and rolled his left shirt sleeve up to his shoulder; revealing a tattoo. The tattoo was the symbol of the Water Tribe, but the ink was orange; the color of the all but existent Air Nomads. "We're here for the league." Jao said to the tall bearded man behind the counter.

"In the back," replied the man in a gruff voice.

Jao nodded his head and pulled his shirt sleeve down as he headed to the backroom of the bookstore.

"So, you're a Water Tribe's men?" Zuko asked Jao.

"No. What in the world gave you that idea?" Jao replied, adding, "I'm Earth Kingdom, through and through."

"But, your tattoo-"

"Oh, that? Everyone here has one of these. You'll learn more about them later," replied Jao as he stopped in front of a large bookcase. Reaching up, he grabbed the top right-most book. The book moved slightly, but didn't leave its spot. Instead, a click was heard and the entire bookcase swung forward. Jao pulled the bookcase out, revealing a small doorway with a revolving staircase going down.

Zuko walked down the staircase first, allowing Jao to close the bookcase behind them. After walking down at least four flights worth of stairs, Zuko arrived at the bottom and was greeted by a door. On the door were the symbols for the Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads. The design of the symbols was remarkably similar to design Iroh had showed him.

Jao walked up to the door and knocked hard. The small peep window in the door opened. "It's me." Jao said. He then continued saying, "I have a new guy with me."

The door opened to reveal a tall girl in baggy brown pants and a dark brown bikini top. She had short black hair that was pulled back into a short ponytail. "You're just in time. It's about to start."

"Thanks," replied Jao as he walked in; Zuko quickly following behind him.

Walking into the room, Zuko was impressed with the room's size. For it wasn't really a room, but more like a mini-arena. It was at least two stories tall and as wide as a city block. Inside this cavern, thirteen people, including Jao and Zuko, were standing about. Off to the side, by the door, there was a table that the girl who answered the door was standing behind.

An average looking guy with black hair, wearing a light green shirt and dark green pants, walked up to the table and turned to face everyone. "Alright everyone, bring it in." He shouted. The small crowd of people gathered around in front him to listen to what he was going to say. "For those of you who don't know, my name is Tao and this is Melee League. Melee League was started four years ago as a way to vent out frustration, while not getting arrested. Since then, we have become the most popular, well kept underground fighting secret. There is not only this facility here, but three more in this very city. As well as, a dozen spread throughout the Earth Kingdom, one in the Northern Water Tribe, and five in the Fire Nation. Here at Melee League, your background doesn't matter. We just want to fight. Here are the rules of melee league; 1. You don't talk about melee league. 2. You don't talk about melee league. 3. When someone says stop, or goes limp, even if he's just faking it, the fight is over. 4. Only two to a fight. 5. One fight at a time. 6. You fight without shirts or shoes. 7. The fights go on as long as they need to. 8. If this is your first night at melee league, you have to fight. 9. No bending allowed. Does everyone understand these rules?"

With a course of agreement ringing out, Tao continued. "You can bet on the fights, if you chose to, at the table behind me. Now, is there anyone new tonight?"

When Tao asked this question, Jao called out, "He's new." While, pointing at Zuko.

"You're new?" Tao asked him.

Seeing everyone's eyes on him, Zuko did the only thing he could and replied saying, "Yeah, I'm new."

"Then you'll be fighting first." Tao told him.

"Is anyone else new?" Tao asked.

When no one came forward, Tao turned to Zuko and said, "Well, looks like you're up first." He then scanned around the room looking for a fighter for Zuko. "Hey, Xiu, you feel like taking on the new guy?"

"Alright." Replied a feminine voice, stepping forward.

Zuko saw that the speaker was a petite female, at least three and a half inches shorter than himself. She had long dark brown hair tied together in a tight braid and was wearing a white bikini top with baggy white shorts. She had dark blue eyes and a dark skin one.

"Either of you care to place a wager on your fight?" Tao asked them. Xiu shook her head no; while Zuko replied, "Yeah."

Zuko walked up to the girl behind the table and took out the last of his money, which happened to be eight gold pieces.

"Your name?" the girl asked him.

"Lee," replied Zuko.

The girl wrote the name of both fighters down and then asked, "What's your wager?"

"Eight gold pieces, on me." He replied, handing her is gold.

Nodding her head, the girl took the gold and wrote down the wager. She then handed him a ticket and said, "this is to claim your gold if you win."

As Zuko stepped away from the table, others stepped up to place their own wagers on the fight. Tao turned to face Zuko and said, "Take off your shoes and shirt and go to the center. We'll then start the fight."

Zuko took off his shoes and then slowly took off his shirt. While his arms were relatively fine, Zuko's chest and back bore scars; though none nearly as bad as the one on his face. (**A/N: Yes, I gave Zuko more scars. I just think that it's odd that the only scar he has is the one on his face, considering everything he does. After all, Zuko isn't a papered prince; he's spoiled, but not papered. I figure with his training, he's got to have some scars.**) Most of the scars were from his time spent training with his Dual Dao Swords. A few were also from injuries he received while exploring the Air Temples. Zuko placed his shirt next to his shoes and walked over to where his opponent was waiting for him.

Once everyone had finished placing their bets, they gathered in a large lose circle around Zuko and Xiu. They were close enough to see the fight, but not so much so that they would have a fighter shoved into them.

As her opponent walked over, Xiu called out, "Hey." The guy looked his gaze with hers. "I want you to hit me as hard as you can," Xiu said to him. "Don't hold back."

"Sure." Was the simple reply that was returned to her.

"FIGHT!" Tao shouted to start the fight between them.

Without waiting for her opponent to get his bearings, Xiu sprang forward, rushing her opponent. She could tell from the guy's scars that he had at least seen some form of combat.

Zuko was momentarily caught off guard by Xiu's rush. However, he was able to gather his wits just in time as her back leg swung forward in a high arc to his head; making a perfect Jodan Mawashi Geri kick. What Zuko hadn't fully counted on, was the amount of force that Xiu was able to release with her kick. He had gotten his arm up in time to block the kick with his left forearm, but the force of the kick was enough to let Zuko know that he'd have a bruise the next morning. '_Damn, I didn't expect a kick that hard,_' Zuko thought to himself. '_Felt like getting hit by one of the training swords._'

Thinking quickly, to capitalize on the close proximity of his opponent, Zuko stepped forward and shot his right fist forward as hard as he could into Xiu's toned abdomen. He held back his full strength, as he didn't want to kill her, but Zuko at least wanted to make a small statement to everyone here; that he held no qualms about fighting a member of the opposite sex.

* * *

"Mom, I'm home." Jin shouted as she stepped through the front door of her house.

"Welcome home," Xain said as she stepped out of the kitchen.

"Here's your and dad's order." Jin said as she handed her mother the crate of Poitin.

"Thank you, sweetie. Now go wash up for supper."

Nodding her head, Jin turned to make her way up to her room and hide her crate of Ignis Crepito, that she placed in her room before coming in the house, before anyone found it.

"Oh and Jin." Her mother called after her.

"Yeah mom?"

"I better not see so much as one bottle of Ignis Crepito out of your room or in the hands of your siblings or else you will be grounded for a month!" Xain said as she walked back into the kitchen.

Jin stood on the stairs and looked at the kitchen door in shock. '_How the hell did she do that?_' Jin asked herself. '_I was sure no one saw me put the drinks in my room._'

With one last glance at the kitchen door, Jin made her way up stairs to her room to hide the bottles of Ignis Crepito from her siblings. The last thing she wanted was to be grounded and not be able to go out. Sure, she didn't have a boyfriend, but it could change.

* * *

Despite the pain his body was in, Zuko couldn't help but smile to himself. He really had had a great time at the Melee League; it had been ages since he had done something fun. Plus, he was able to turn his eight gold pieces into a hundred and five gold pieces. In the end, he had decided to join and got his own tattoo. It was on his left shoulder, same place as Jao's, and was of the Fire Nation symbol in Earth Kingdom green. At first, Zuko hadn't been so sure about getting the Fire Nation symbol, but after seeing a few others with it he decided to go with it.

Zuko quietly snuck into the apartment, as to not awaken his uncle, and got ready for bed. As he laid motionlessly on his futon, Zuko began to meditate and within minutes was standing in his mindscape.

"Welcome, Zuko." Spoke the intangible voice that had been training Zuko in his mindscape. "We will now begin lesson thirteen, bending lightning. Lightning bending has two origins. It was originally developed roughly two and a half thousand years ago by Lato. He made it, not so that they could attack, but redirect lightning from ships that happened to be traveling through a storm. It wasn't until a thousand years later that Lo Mei bent the first lightning as a form of attack. She did this in response to her husband's brutal slaughter by the pirate captain Xan Tu. When Lo Mei found her husband's dead body, she walked to the harbor where Xan Tu's ship was docked and boarded his ship. Without saying anything, she began to mercilessly slaughter his crew; all the while never saying anything. In the end, Xan Tu was the only member of the crew left and instead of killing him with her blades as Lo Mei had done to the rest of the crew; she thrust her hand forward intending to burn him with her fire. However, it wasn't fire that erupted from her hand, but lightning. The lightning for Lo Mei's hand was so powerful that it struck a hole through Xan Tu's chest. Eventually, she was brought before Fire Lord Jing to explain herself. Emotionlessly, Lo Mei recounted everything that had happened and admitted to the Fire Lord, Fire Lady, and the High Court that she had killed Xan Tu and his crew."

Zuko sat in silence as he listened to the origins of lightning bending. He had never thought that origins for one of the greatest forms of firebending to be so bloodly.

"At the surprise of everyone, Fire Lord Jing pardoned Lo Mei and let her go free. When questioned on this decision by his wife, Fire Lady Isis. Fire Lord Jing replied that he would feel the same if anything happened to her. Touched by what her husband had said, Fire Lady Isis named her first daughter Ji Mei. Lo Mei found sanctuary at the Western Air Temple and lived there for the reminder of her days; which were numerous as she was only twenty-three when she arrived. At the temple, she learned that she was with child and when she gave birth she learned that it wasn't child, but children that she was with. Lo Mei, gave birth to five healthy girls all of whom were airbenders, like their father Yan Chia, Lo Mei's husband."

Zuko was floored by this tidbit of information. He had never heard of someone from another nation being allowed to live at the air temples. But, with everything that had happened over the past hundred years, it was possible for it to have been destroyed. Plus, it happened a thousand and a half years ago.

"There are three different colors for lightning benders. Those colors are white, blue and red. Unlike the colors for firebending, there is no difference between the different colored lightning; all three are just as deadly as the next one. Despite current popular beliefs, it is possible to control the lightning to an existent. This is done, by controlling the flow of chi in your body. Bend your chi the way you want it and the lightning will follow. How much chi you use will also determine the strength of your lightning. In order to summon the lightning, the user must separate his energies and be at peace with themselves…"

'_At peace with myself?_' Zuko thought bitterly to himself. '_There's a laugh. My father is ashamed of me, my sister wants to kill me, and my nation is on the verge of being destroyed unless I kill both my father and sister._' As Zuko thought, he began to recall the last time he had seen his mother.

'_Zuko, everything I have done tonight I have done for you. Never forget who you are, my love._'

That had been the last thing she had said to him. Zuko took a moment to think on what she had said to him and how it affected his life now. "I know who I am. I am Prince Zuko, the black prince of the Fire Nation. Son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai, Champion of Aoihi, and the Blue Spirit. My nation needs to be saved from itself. To do this, I will kill my father and sister and begin the difficult task of re-educating my people on the proper way of fire bending. So that we may no longer, be a nation thriving on death and destruction. Spirits above forgive me for what I must do. Everything I do, I do for my people."

With his admission and acceptance of himself, Zuko stood up and with a calming breath separated his energies of yin and yang within himself. As he moved his arms, in the same movements that Iroh had shown him almost two weeks ago, traces of red lightning followed his finger tips. He then thrust his hand forward and was greeted by a welcoming boom as a powerful burst of red lightning erupted from his finger tips and went shooting off into the distance of his mindscape.

Zuko stood frozen in place as his mind absorbed what he had just done. Finally, in a horse voice he whispered, "Fucking A."

**

* * *

Next Chapter: The Tale of Jin**

**Well, Zuko has now accepted his destiny. You are gonna die Ozai. Everyone get ready for the next chapter, cause it's time for the big date. It will be very similar to the date in Tales of Ba Sing Se, but it will have several bonus scenes; like Iroh getting Zuko ready for the date. Also, I'll be introducing Jin's younger sister, Shi.**

**Please leave me a review telling what you think of the story so far.**


	6. The Tale of Jin

**Spirit of Fire**

**Chapter 6: The Tale of Jin**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender**

* * *

Jin calmly walked down the streets of the Lower Ring, towards her house, after a busy day of hemming clothes for Ms. Xao. She was debating wither or not to follow her friend's suggestion and have a relaxing cup of tea at Pao's Family Tea House.

**Flashback**

"_Hey Jin, what wrong?" asked a soft voice behind her._

_Jin turned to see her fellow co-worker and friend, Maki, standing behind her. "Oh, hey Maki," replied Jin. "Nothing's really wrong. I've just been really stressed out."_

"_You know what you should do then? Have some tea at Pao's Family Tea House." Said Maki._

"_That dump?" Jin replied with a slight tone of disgust in her voice. "I think I'd rather be stressed."_

"_Hey it's not that bad." Maki countered, before immediately relenting. "Okay fine, so it still looks like a dump. Fortunately, the tea and service has really changed. I went there the other day, when I was helping my mom with her shopping and tried it. The tea is now great, Pao hired a new tea maker and he is superb. But the best part is the guy Pao hired to be the new waiter." Maki finished in a squeal._

"_What's so great about him?" Jin asked, now curious. It wasn't often Maki got so excited about waiters._

"_Well he's young, about our age, average height and has a strong presence about him. He's the perfect bad boy to bring home to meet your folks. Plus, he is so fucking hot!" replied Maki._

"_I might have to check it out this afternoon, after my shift," commented Jin._

_Before Maki could say anything in response, their boss came in and ordered them both back to work._

**End Flashback**

Jin was now in the midst of her debate as she arrived at the front of Pao's Family Tea House. '_It would be nice to relax for a short moment, before returning to the madness that I call home._' Jin thought to herself. '_Besides, it's been ages since I've gotten any type of eye-candy. Not since my birthday last year, when Maki's sister snuck us into that ladies strip club._'

'_Oh what the hell,_' Jin finally decided as she reached for the door handle. '_What's the worst that could happen?_'

Opening the door, Jin walked into the tea house and glanced around. Seeing a couple of people sitting at the tables closest to the counter, Jin decided to sit at the table to the left of the door as she walked in. She sat with her back to the wall, to watch the on goings of the shop around her. '_Well, the place still looks the same,_' Jin thought to herself as she slid the small pamphlet menu on the table over to read it, while she waited for the waiter to arrive and take her order.

* * *

Zuko mentally sighed to himself as he walked to the back of the tea house with a tray of used tea cups to be cleaned. Things hadn't gone exactly well that morning for him. When he had been getting ready for the day, Iroh took notice of both the bruise on his arm and the tattoo. Iroh first asked about the bruise and Zuko replied, saying that he had tripped and landed on his arm. Iroh knew that it was highly unlikely that Zuko had tripped, due to years worth of training that gave him a great sense of balance. Even if he did trip, Iroh also knew that Zuko was naturally agile and would have corrected himself in the fall to not land on his arm. Now when Iroh saw the tattoo, things really went downhill. First, there was the fact that it was the Fire Nation symbol. Closely, following that was the fact that Zuko got the tattoo. Zuko argued back that it was a small tattoo; not even close to being bigger than three gold pieces connected together. He had explained that he saw some of the others he was out with last night have them and was offered to get one, so he accepted it. While clearly not happy, Iroh was relieved when Zuko informed him that he had gotten a good deal on the tattoo and that he wasn't joining a gang.

Zuko snapped out of his reminiscing as he heard the door to the tea house open. Quickly putting the dirty tea cups into the water basin, Zuko went to wait on the new customer. He walked back into the main area of the tea house and saw that the customer was a young woman with dark brown hair sitting on the right side of the tea house by the door. As Zuko made his way towards the woman, he took notice of her viewable features. She had, what seemed to be, a natural tanned complexion, a small delicate nose centered in her face. Her slender fingers gently held the small menu pamphlet that she was reading.

Zuko's eyes then looked past the woman's hands at what lay behind them and was stunned. '_Are those her breasts?_' he thought to himself. He knew it was rude to stare, but he was unable to help himself. Despite what his crew might have thought, he _did_ like girls; he just didn't really have much practice with them. '_I know the crew said that Earth Kingdom woman can be well endowed, but I never thought they got so… big._ _I wonder what it would be like to feel them?_' Zuko mentally commented to himself as he fought down a blush.

* * *

Jin was busily looking over the teas on the small pamphlet, when she was brought out of thinking by a masculine, but soft, voice speaking to her and saying, "Welcome to Pao's Family Tea House. Are you ready to order?" Jin looked up to see a young man, roughly her own age, standing in front of her waiting to take her order.

"Y-yes," replied Jin as she took in the man's appearance. He wasn't overly tall, a few inches taller than she was. His hair was shorter then that of most guys and was black. His face was well defined and handsome; even though, he had a sever burn on the left side of it. But this did not repulse Jin; for she thought it gave him character. The most captivating feature about the young man was his eyes. His right was a beautiful gold, whilst his left was, oddly, red like blood. Jin found herself unable to look away as she spoke giving her order, "I'll have a cup of Jasmine, please."

"Your tea will be right out." He replied as he walked away to fill her order.

'_Was that a blush on his cheek?_' Jin asked herself as he turned away from her. '_I wonder if I made him nervous?_' she thought with a grin as she leaned over the table to watch him walk away. '_He's got a nice ass too._'

A couple of minutes later the man returned and placed her cup of Jasmine tea in front of her. Jin thanked him as she picked up the cup and brought it to her mouth for a small sip. '_This tastes really good,_' she thought as the drink went down her throat. '_Well, with the tea and the waiter, I'll be coming by here a lot more often._'

* * *

"Has anyone checked to see if the paper has arrived?" Sokka asked aloud as his sister walked into the main room.

Katara looked to see Aang lounging on the handrail and her brother and Toph lounging on the seat cushions on the floor. Now normally, she would have told them to not be so lazy, but she had been doing the same thing in her room. However, it was rather boring to lounge by one's self, so she had gotten up and was walking towards the main room to join her friends in lounging together. It wasn't like there was much else they could do in the city. Everyday, for the past four days they had wondered around the city talking to people about where Appa might be. The problem was their tour guide, Joo Dee. The people they spoke with seemed to get very nervous around her; so they had decided to not bother to go out today. "I'll go check," Katara replied as she continued walking and went to the door.

Katara opened the front door and saw that their mailbox had the day's paper sticking out of it. Grabbing the paper, she quickly glanced at the headline before heading back inside. As she read the title, her eyes began to light up. "I've got it! I know how will see the Earth King." Katara said excitedly as she ran across the living room and up the steps to where the others were lounging in the upper part of the living room.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Toph asked before mimicking Joo Dee and saying, "'One doesn't just _pop in_ on the Earth King.'"

"The King is having a party tonight for his pet bear," replied Katara.

"You mean Platypus-Bear?" Aang questioned from the handrail.

Duly Katara replied to him, "No, it just says 'Bear'."

"Certainly, mean his pet Skunk-Bear." Sokka said, offering his own suggestion.

"Or his Armadillo-Bear?" Chimed in Toph with her own suggestion.

"Gopher-Bear?" Aang added as a final suggestion.

"Just… 'Bear'." Replied Katara to her friends with a small sigh.

"This place is weird." Toph commented allowed. The three others paused slightly, agreeing with the statement.

"The palace will be packed; we can sneak in with the crowd." Katara said, bringing their discussion back on how to get into the Earth King's palace.

"Won't work." Toph said as she laid back on the floor.

"Why not?" Katara asked shrugging her shoulders.

"Well, no offence to you country folk, but a real society crowd would spot you from a mile away. You've got no manners." Toph reasoned as she grabbed a pastry and began to eat it.

"Excuse me? I've got no manners. You're not exactly _Lady Fancy Fingers_." Katara replied with a slight huff and being told she had no manners by the group's least mannered member.

With a burp Toph replied, "I learned proper society behavior and _chose_ to leave it." She then threw the half eaten pastry away and continued. "You haven't learned anything. And frankly, it's a little too late."

Sokka and Aang tried to reason with Toph saying that she could teach them. They then proceeded to act as though they were being very sophisticated and bowing to each other, until they wound up hitting their heads together.

"Katara might be able to pull it off, but you two would be lucky to pass as busboys." Toph said as she and Katara looked at the boys down on the floor.

Toph then turned to Katara and said, "If we're going to do this we'll need the rest of the day to prepare. We got a lot of shopping to do."

"Shopping?" Katara asked as the two girls made they way towards Toph's room.

"Yeah, shopping. We need to get our nails done, our hair styled, and new dresses. Also, I'll need to teach you about proper society behavior." Toph informed her as she grabbed her money bag.

After letting the boys know that they were leaving, Katara and Toph stepped out of the house. "Time to let the bloodless torture begin," Toph said as they made their way to a salon. It wasn't going to be a fun afternoon for the young earthbender.

* * *

The day at the tea house had gone smoothly enough for Zuko, who was now enjoying his break and staring up at the night sky from the roof.

"Zuko," spoke a voice that was slowly becoming very familiar you him. The exiled prince turned to his left and saw Aoihi floating next to him.

"Yes?" He asked the elder spirit of fire.

"It is time to test you. We are going to see how well you do when you confront your former enemies. Back in your room, you will find a set of clothes to change into. The clothes will help you to be unrecognizable to the Avatar and his companions."

"The Avatar is here? In the city?" Zuko asked

"Yes. And remember, you can't attack the Avatar unless he interferes with your mission," Aoihi replied, reminding the prince of his restrictions. "Now go." The spirit then vanished leaving Zuko alone on the roof.

Zuko quickly jumped off the roof and ran into the back of the tea house. "Uncle, I need to leave now. I have some things to do." Zuko said as he took off his apron.

"Are you going out with the same people you did last night?" Iroh asked as he tended to the boiling pots.

"No, it's spiritual things tonight," replied Zuko.

"Ah, I see. Good luck then nephew." Iroh called as Zuko ran out the door.

As he ran down the streets Zuko had a thought to himself. '_How will I know where to go?_'

'_I'll tell you,_' replied Aoihi's voice from within his head.

'_Aoihi? How are you speaking to me?_'

'_I'm an Elder Spirit, child. I can do much that is impossible for humans to understand. Now _move it_._' The spirit replied.

Seeing a stack of crates, Zuko jumped on them and made his way onto the roof. Now that he was on the roof of the building, he was free to run at full speed towards his apartment. With nothing inhibiting his way, Zuko made what would normally be a ten minute walk from the tea house to his apartment; in three minutes. Zuko ran into his room and saw that the cloths were indeed there. As quickly as he could, Zuko took off his clothes and put the black and dark red outfit on. (**A/N: It's like Ezio's assassin outfit from Assassin's Creed II, but it's red and black instead of red and white.**) Putting the black cloth mask over his nose and mouth, Zuko placed the hood over his head. Stopping to look in the mirror, Zuko was surprised at his reflection; because it was hard for him to recognize himself. Impressed with his concealment, Zuko jumped out the window and climbed onto the roof.

Zuko ran as fast as he could to the tram station, with Aoihi guiding him. He arrived just as the tram was starting to leave. Acting quickly, Zuko jumped from the roof of the tram station down onto the roof of the stone train. Zuko lay down on his stomach on the roof of the first compartment and waited for the stone train to enter the Upper Ring.

Twenty minutes later the stone train was past the final wall and entering the Upper Ring. Seeing that it was slowing down for the tram station, Zuko jumped off the roof of the stone train and onto the roof of a nearby house. He then followed Aoihi's directions, while running as fast as he could. After nearly half an hour of hard running Zuko found himself standing in front of a large house. "What is this place?" He asked aloud.

'_This is the Avatar's house, while he is in the city,_' replied Aoihi from within his head. '_Quickly, go inside before someone sees you._'

Zuko opened the front door and walked inside. '_So, what am I here for?_' he questioned.

'_The Avatar and his friends were able to sneak into the Earth King's palace tonight to try and speak with him. However, they were met with resistance._' Aoihi explained as she showed Zuko scenes from that night. Zuko watched as the Avatar and his companions tried to inform the man they were talking to, who ever he was, about the information they had that could defeat the Fire Nation. The man refused to listen and informed them that it was forbidding to mention the war within the walls of Ba Sing Se. The vision ended as the man turned around. '_What we want you to do, Zuko, is convince the Avatar not to do anything stupid._' Aoihi told him.

'_That's going to be difficult; the child hasn't had to listen to anyone in over a hundred years._' Zuko thought to himself.

'_Well, you'll have a little bit of time to get your argument ready. They'll be here in forty-five minutes._' Aoihi replied one final time.

As he had some time, Zuko looked around their living room and mostly found nothing of interest. However, there was an interesting looking green bag with books and rolled up pieces of paper in it. Zuko began looking through the contents of the bag, until he got to one particular piece of paper with the words 'The Darkest Day in Fire Nation History'. After looking at the date, Zuko realized what the Avatar and his friends were planning to do. '_If they try to invade on that day, they will be slaughtered. Agni's defenses are highest on that day, due to the loss of firebending._' Zuko thought to himself. Normally, the prince would have let them walked right into their demise, but he was trying not to be like the rest of his people. '_I have to try and stop them. But, if they decided to go through with it, that's their problem._'

Zuko continued to read for the next thirty minutes as he waited for the group to show up. Minutes before they were due to arrive; Zuko extinguished the candles in the house and around the house, bathing the room in darkness.

* * *

Sokka, Aang, Toph, and Katara stepped out of the Ostrich-Horse drawn carriage as it stopped in front of their temporary house in Ba Sing Se.

"Have a pleasant night Aang and Sokka and Toph and Katara. Please enjoy your stay in our wonderful city." The different Joo Dee said before closing the carriage door.

As the carriage rolled out of sight, Sokka spoke, "Can you believe that Long Feng guy?"

"I know Sokka. Long Feng has to be doing something that's keeping everyone from knowing about the war. We've got to tell people." Katara said as they walked up the steps of the house.

The four friends walked into the house and closed the door behind them. The four of them were so wrapped in their own thoughts that they never noticed anything was amiss, until Sokka spoke up. "Hey why is it so dark in here? I thought we left the lights on?"

Being the only ones that could see Katara and Aang snapped out of their own thinking and looked around; realizing that candles in the living room lanterns were out.

"How did that happen?" Aang asked aloud.

"Because I put them out," replied a rough voice.

The group gave a yelp of surprise and looked towards the voice. "W-who are you?" Aang asked in a slightly shaky voice. Sure, he may have been to bridge between two worlds, but ghosts scared his arrows right off.

"Well, you already know a partner of mine. You met when you were helped across Serpent's Pass," replied the voice.

"You're one of the three champions." Aang realized. "Which one are you, water or fire?"

A giant ball of dark green fire blazed into existence, lighting the room in an eerie green light. In front of the flame was a hooded figure, who was sitting in front of them, behind the living room table with the books and papers that Sokka had taken from Wan Shi Tong's Library. "I'm going to say… I'm the water champion." The champion replied sarcastically.

"You… You're a firebender." Sokka declared with in a tone of disgust at being so close to a firebender.

"How could you have gotten into the city?" Katara questioned. "We stopped the drill."

"I got in the same way everyone else does, I walked in." He replied.

"Tell me why I shouldn't tell people you're here" Said Aang.

The hooded figure stood slowly and stared right at Aang with sightless eyes. "If you want to tell people I'm here go ahead. I won't stop you. After all, who would believe you? Are you going to tell them the same why you're going to tell them about the war? By proclaiming it and hoping people believe you? They would see you as nothing more than an attention seeking brat. Also, you'd have to deal with the champions of water and earth. Do you really want them on your case? And finally, who's going to care that there's one more firebender in Ba Sing Se? It's not like I'm the only one."

"What do you mean '_one more firebender_'?" Katara asked. "There can't be other firebenders here; this is the Earth Kingdom capital."

"This is Ba Sing Se; you will find all walks of life here. Male, female, bender, non-bender, earthbenders, firebenders, and waterbenders are all in this city." The figure explained.

"So, is this the Fire Nation's newest plot; to sneak soldiers in and then attack, when they have enough?" Sokka asked.

"They're here because they were born here. Just like the waterbenders and earthbenders in Agni."

"What's Agni?" Aang asked in a confused voice.

"Agni was the first human firebender. The Fire Nation capital is named Agni in his honor," he replied to the Avatar.

"Are you keeping them prisoner their?" Katara asked angrily.

"No, they're living there like everyone else. They wake up in the mornings and go to work, send their children to school, clean their houses, have parties, play games, go to parent/teacher meetings; they have and live their lives."

"But… but, why aren't they fighting back?" Katara asked with anguish in her voice.

"Some of them do fight in the war. After all, the Fire Nation is their home and the Fire Lord is their ruler," The figure told her.

"What exactly are you doing here?" Toph asked, who had been strangely silent.

"What I'm doing here is reading these books and papers. Especially, this very interesting piece called, 'The Darkest Day in Fire Nation History'. You know, I seem to recall another such day coming up real soon; it should be in about four months. Would any of you care to guess what happens for eight minutes that day?" When no one spoke he continued, "Firebenders lose their ability to firebend. Of course this happens once a year, every year, so it's not like its uncommon knowledge. In fact, the next twenty solar eclipses are already known; due to the astrological calendars of the Fire Sages. I hope you enjoyed learning about this interesting bit of information. I will also tell you this, if someone was planning to invade Agni, they would find it easy to get in, but impossible to get out once they had been trapped by the waterbenders and earthbenders. They would be greeted by earth, water, and sharpened steel, if not fire. Anyone dumb enough would be slaughtered. Luckily, none of you are that stupid; because I would hate to have to bail your asses out."

Aang, Katara, and Sokka exchanged glances between each other. "I heard that the champions have a mission. Is your mission to kill me?" Aang asked.

To everyone surprise, the figure laughed before replying, "No, our mission isn't to kill you. However, you could get killed by us. The elder spirits believe that when the time comes you won't be able to fulfill your duty. So, they have chosen us to end the war, by killing the Fire Lord. A side part of that order is to kill anyone who gets in our way. So, here's a piece of advice, _don't get in our way_."

Everyone stared at the hooded man in shock. At that moment, the dark green flame disappeared and the lanterns were light once more. "Well, my work here is done," the figure said as they turned and walked up the stairs to the upper section of the living room. He then opened the window, before turning back around and saying, "Remember, Avatar we're watching you."

The figure then jumped out the window and ran off into the night. Sokka and Aang snapped to their scenes and ran towards the window.

"I don't see him anywhere." Aang said as he looked around.

"It's like he vanished. Almost like a ghost." Sokka added agreeing with his friend.

Katara turned from the window to Toph and noticed that the blind earthbender was shaking slightly. "Toph, what's wrong?"

"Katara, I couldn't scene him." She replied.

"What do you mean?"

"You know how my _sight_ works right?" Toph asked. Sensing her friend's nod, Toph continued. "According to my scenes, there was no one there."

Katara's eyes widened at this. Someone was able to get past Toph's earthbending scene? Who ever that firebender was, he was powerful; very powerful. '_I guess we should be glad it isn't Zuko, though. Still, I don't trust him._' Katara thought to herself.

* * *

Zuko ran, he ran as fast as he could over roofs, through yards. He didn't slow his pace until he was perched atop the roof of the tram station. Once the stone train began to move, he quickly leapt down and flattened himself on the roof of the first compartment. '_So, did I pass your test?_' He mentally asked, hoping to get Aoihi's attention.

'_Yes, though you could have done better; you accomplished what I set you out to do. Thank you, Prince Zuko._' Aoihi replied before leaving his mind.

Nearly two hours later, as Zuko was falling asleep in his futon, a final thought crossed his mind. '_I wonder why I didn't see the Avatar's bison? Oh well, it's probably out gazing in the fields._' And with that thought, Zuko rolled over and fell into a deep comfortable sleep.

* * *

Jin sighed contently as she sipped on her tea. The past week for her had been a great one. On the day she had first re-visited Pao's Family Tea House, she had been called back to work as soon as she got home. Apparently, two customers came into the shop needing two new formal dresses that had to be tailor fitted and had to be ready for that night. Madame Xoa told the customers the price, which was enough to buy a rather nice house in the Middle Ring, and it was waved off as nothing. Madame Xoa, called in Jin to do the work, as she was the best seamstress. Jin's commission for the work was huge. It wasn't enough for a house, but she could get her own three bedroom, fully furnished apartment in the Lower Ring. However, she didn't use the money to get an apartment for herself. Instead, she went to Pao's Family Tea House every day for the delicious tea and to make eyes at the waiter.

But today was different, for today she was going to learn the waiter's name and ask him out. '_Come on Jin this isn't Avatar Kyoshi's time anymore. Women are asking men on dates and marriages just as much as men asking the women._' Jin thought to herself as she prepared herself. '_And remember what mom always says, '_If you find something you want in life, no one's going to give it to you; you have to take it._' Well, I've found something I want, so I'm taking it._' Gulping down the last of her tea, Jin stood up and walked to the counter to pay.

Arriving at the counter, Jin saw that the waiter seemed to be talking to the tea brewer, whom she guessed might have been a family member. So, she decided to make her presence known to them. "Thank you for the tea." She said offering her payment for the drink. The waiter turned around and gently took the coins from her, placing them on the counter behind him as he turned back around. "What's your name?" She asked, hoping to finally get his name.

He turned back around to face her with a small surprised look on his face. "My name's Lee. My uncle, Mushi, and I just moved here."

"Hi Lee, my name's Jin," Jin replied as she introduced herself to him. She then continued, by asking, "Thank you and, well, I was wondering if you'd like to go out sometime?"

Before Lee could reply to her, his uncle stepped in and said, "He'd love to."

Not bothering to care that it was Lee's uncle who replied for him, Jin replied, "Great! I'll meet you in front of the shop at sun down." She then turned and walked out of the tea house.

* * *

Xain was busily chopping some vegetables to add to the stir fry that she was about to start cooking for the family's dinner, when she heard her daughter come in. "Mom, guess what?" She heard her eldest daughter shout from the front door.

"Jin, I'm in the kitchen; don't shout. Now what?" Xain replied, wanting to hear what had gotten her daughter so excited.

Jin entered the kitchen and stood next to her mother at the counter. "I've got a date, tonight," replied Jin in a sing-song voice.

"Really?" Xain asked as she stopped chopping the vegetables and turned to face her daughter; her gold eyes twinkling mischievously. "Your date wouldn't happen to be with that handsome waiter from Pao's Family Tea House, would it?"

Jin blushed a deep red at what her mother had just said, "WHAT? How did you know? Who told you?"

Xain laughed lightly at her daughter's antics. "No one told me Jin, but several times this past week you've been talking about a handsome waiter at Pao's in your sleep."

Jin blushed red once again and asked nervously, "You didn't hear anything else, did you?"

"No, I didn't hear anything else." Xain replied. "That is of course, if you don't include that one particular thing you spoke about the waiter serving you in a giant cup of Jasmine tea."

Jin froze in horror at what her mother had just said. She remembered that dream. That was the dream that pushed hr the final step to asking Lee out.

Seeing her daughter fidget nervously, Xain decided to cut her some slack. The last thing she wanted was for her daughter to be as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs on her date. "Relax, Jin and go get ready for your date." Xain said as she hugged her daughter.

"Okay, mom," Jin replied as the hug was broken. She then headed up to her room to grab her toiletries; before coming back down to take a quick shower.

Xain turned back to her chopping board and begin chopping the vegetables once more, but this time there was a bit more force behind her chopping then normal. '_This date had better not go like a previous dates,_' Xain thought bitterly to herself. '_This will be Jin's thirteenth date and the last twelve of them she's been stood up. If my baby has to go through another heartache because she was stood up; I'm going to hurt someone. A mother can only see her child go through so much pain._'

* * *

Jin scrubbed, soaped, and washed every part of her body she could reach; she wanted to look her best for tonight. In the midst of showering, Jin grabbed her razor and bent the metal to be even sharper. She then began to careful task of shaving her legs. Once she was finished with her legs, Jin careful shaved her armpits. Looking herself over, Jin thought to herself, '_I know it's just the first date, but it might go that far._' Jin than began the final shaving task of carefully shaving off her dark brown pubic hair. '_Hmm…, I wonder if I should leave a strip or remove it all? I'll leave a small strip, maybe Lee likes carpet._' Jin thought as she left a thin strip of her pubic hair.

With her shaving done, Jin quickly washed her hair. Making sure to get as much dirt, grime, and lose hairs out as she could. She then stepped out of the tub and began to dry herself off. Jin spent several minutes rubbing her hair vigorously to dry it. Once her hair was as dry as she could get it, Jin began to brush the tangles out of her hair. With her hair finished, Jin wrapped a towel around her body and stepped out of the bathroom, walking to her room.

Once in her room, Jin took off the towel and put on a plain white pair of underwear. "Now what should I wear?" Jin asked herself as she opened her small wardrobe. Jin searched through her clothes and settled on a green tunic robe. It was similar to what she had been wearing at the tea house, but had some noticeable differences. For one, it was a darker shade of green and the robe was silted on both sides. It could be worn with or without pants. "I should wear the pants; after all, it's only the first date and I don't want to give others the impression that I'm easy," Jin decided aloud. She then opened the drawers at the bottom and looked at the pants she had available.

In the end, she went for a long baggy cream color skirt instead of pants. She then set the skirt and robe on her bed and looked at herself in her mirror. "Now to decide on what to do with these," Jin said as she grabbed her breasts. "Should I wear a bra or maybe chest wraps? If I do the chest wraps like Maki's sister showed us, I can make them look even bigger."

"Your breasts are already big enough, Jin." Came a voice from behind her.

Jin glanced behind herself, from her mirror and saw her younger sister, Shi, walking up behind her. Shi was a year younger than Jin and while the sisters shared many similarities, they were also different. Shi's eyes were a lighter shade of green then Jin's. Jin had gotten their father's dark brown hair, while Shi had their mother's black hair. Even though Jin was older, if only by a year, Shi was the taller of the two siblings.

"What do you want, Shi?" Jin asked.

"I heard you talking and decided to see what you were up to," Shi replied. Then, before Jin could react, Shi grabbed a hold of Jin's chest; lifting up her sister's breasts she asked, "Have these things gotten bigger again? You really need to stop eating so much; because all the weight is just going to your breasts and soon you'll be top heavy."

There are any ways Jin could have responded to her sister, everything from ignoring her to breaking her hands. However, Jin decided to respond in the sisterly way; by elbowing her younger sister in the head.

Shi immediately dropped her hands and dropped to the floor. Her older sister may be shorter than her and big breasted, but damn did she ever pack a punch. "Damn, you hit me in the ear."

"Yeah? Well, don't go grabbing my breasts all the time." Jin replied.

Shi pulled back her right arm and balled her hand into a fist, slightly extending her middle knuckle. Shi then rammed her fist forward striking the back of Jin's left knee.

Once the blow was struck, Jin fell down onto her sister and then the fight was on.

* * *

Xain had just closed the oven door, when she heard a yell from upstairs, "STOP PULLING MY HAIR YOU BITCH!"

Sighing to herself, Xain wiped her hands and headed upstairs. As she walked up the stairs she thought to herself, '_"_Let's have children,_" I said. "_They'll enrich our lives,_" I said. Why is it, that the two oldest always have to act the most immature?_'

Arriving at the top floor of the house, Xain went to where she heard the fighting; Jin's room. Seeing her two oldest fighting on the floor like a couple of six year olds was enough to get her blood boiling. "JIN! SHI! YOU WILL BOTH STOP THIS INSTANT!" She roared.

The girls stopped fighting and snapped their heads to the door, both getting the same '_oh, crap_' look in there eyes.

"Separate now!" Xain barked. The girls released each other and moved away from each other. "I don't care who started this fight. Shi, go to your room. Jin, finish getting ready for your date," ordered Xain as she stood, waiting for Shi to leave Jin's room. When Shi exited the room, Xain closed Jin's door behind her as she headed back to the kitchen.

Jin stood up and looked herself over, making sure that Shi hadn't injured her to much. Seeing nothing broken or bleeding, she went back to getting ready. '_What the heck, I feel like being adventurous and going commando._' Jin decided to herself as she began to put her skirt on. Once the skirt was on, Jin put on a comfortable pair of slippers and began to style her hair as best she could. She wanted something different then her normal braids. She grabbed a single rubber cord and put her hair into a high pony tail, letting the hair poof out a little for more volume.

With the hair finished, Jin put on her robe and tied it tightly round her waist with a sash to match to lining of her sleeves. Though she wasn't vain, Jin couldn't help but think that she looked great as she checked herself in the mirror. Jin grabbed her money pouch and tucked it in the robe's pocket, before heading down stairs.

"Well, how do I look?" Jin asked her mother.

Xain looked at her daughter and replied, "You look very beautiful, Jin. Are you heading out now?"

"Yeah, the sun has already dipped behind the wall." Jin replied.

Wiping her hands, Xain faced her daughter and said, "Now, remember what I always say."

"That thing about if you find something you want, you have to take it?"

"No not that. The other thing, I always say."

"Oh! '_Don't let a guy force you to do anything you don't want to do. If he tries to force you, kick his balls into his throat._' Is that the one you're talking about?"

"That's the one."

"Don't worry mom; I will. Besides, Lee doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would do that."

"Ah… So, his name is '_Lee_', is it?"

Blushing again, Jin replied, "Yes, his name is Lee. Now, I have to get going or else I'll be late."

Jin walked across the living room and opened the door, just as her father was approaching the door.

"Hi dad," she greeted him.

"Hi Jin," Koto replied, slightly confused as to why his daughter was so dressed up.

"Bye dad," Jin said as she walked down the walkway and onto the street.

"Bye… Jin," he replied more confused then ever. Koto walked into his house and closed the door. Walking into the kitchen, he found his beautiful wife of seventeen years busy scrubbing the pots and pans. "Sweetie, where's Jin going off to?" He asked her.

"She is going out on a date and will be back later tonight," Xain replied softly.

Now even though Koto didn't understand women, for what man could ever hope to, but he knew his wife will enough to know that everything was alright. They were slowly coming to terms that their eldest daughter wasn't a child anymore. "So what are we having tonight?" He asked, changing the subject.

"We've having spicy chicken stir fry with a side of greens and banana pudding. Go tell the children to wash up."

As his wife was several inches taller than he was, Koto exposed her ivory white shoulder and kissed it. "Will do, love," he replied as he slid her tunic back up and left the kitchen, leaving his wife blushing.

'_Good thing I never said the pudding was dessert,_' Xain thought to herself with a wait trace of what one could call a perverted smile.

* * *

After several minutes of walking, Jin found herself waiting on the side of Pao's Family Tea House. '_Okay, Jin this is it. Just act natural and everything will be fine._' Jin thought as she mentally readied herself. She looked around the corner as she heard the door to the shop open and saw Lee standing in the middle of the street.

"Hey." Jin said as she walked up to him. Taking in his appearance, she had to admit that he looked good in green. However, when her eyes fell on his hair, she nearly lost it. "Well, look at you. You look s cute," Jin said as she ruffled his back to normal. '_There, that's much better. Now, I don't feel like I'm about to burst out with laughter,_' she thought to herself.

Lee, gently pushed her hand away and said, "It took my uncle ten minutes to do my hair." Oddly though, he didn't seem to upset about the lost hair style.

Jin gently grabbed his arm and interlocked it with her's as she led him down the street. "So, where are we going for dinner?" Jin asked after a few minutes of walking.

"I thought you would have had a place in mind," replied Lee.

"Why me? You're the guy."

"True, but I'm the one who was _asked_ to go out," Lee replied with small grin.

Jin laughed softly and said, "Luckily, for us, I do have a place in mind."

After several minutes of walking, Lee found himself boarding the stone train with Jin and heading to the Middle Ring. "So, where are you taking me?"

"Well, the place is in the Middle Ring and it's called, Tsuru," answered Jin.

"It sounds nice." Lee responded as Jin nodded in agreement.

It wasn't long until the two teens found themselves sitting in an awkward silence. Though they were silent, their minds were racing.

'_Now, what do I do?_' Jin was thinking desperately to herself. '_Maki said that when she goes out with her boyfriend they talk about their day or week. The problem with that suggestion is that Lee isn't my boyfriend. Damn it I'm so nervous._'

'_What I'm I suppose to do now?_' Lee thought to himself. '_I really wish that Uncle had giving me a little less advice on how to treat a girl and more advice on how to talk to one. I have been banished, forced to live on the sea while I hunted for the Avatar, ordered men around, read over reports, broke into the Northern Water Tribe, I've wandered around the Earth Kingdom starving, and I've become the champion for the Elder Spirit of Fire. And none of them have been as difficult as I am finding this _date_ to be._'

The young couple was broken from their thoughts as the stone train stopped at the Middle Ring tram station. "Hey this is our stop," Jin said as she stood to exit the stone train.

"Thank the spirits." Lee muttered softly under his breath.

As they walked to the restaurant, Lee held Jin's hand and asked, "So, umm… what do you do?"

"Pardon?"

"I mean, what do you do during the day? Do you have a job or something?"

"Oh! I work at Madame Xao's Formal Dresses for All Occasions. It's located here in the Middle Ring."

"Do you like it?"

"It's alright. Madame Xao can be a bit of a pain from time to time, but over all its good."

The conversation of Jin's employment lasted until they arrived at Tsuru. Tsuru, was an open air restaurant with only one wall, that led to the kitchen. The restaurant itself was located in one of the many market squares that were found all throughout the Middle Ring. Jin and Lee were shown to a table and each was given menus to decide what they wanted to eat.

* * *

Yue walked slowly back to her apartment, as it had been a rough day at work. '_Three fights in one hour,_' she grumbled to herself. '_People really need to stop drinking so much._'

Wanting to get home quicker; Yue cut through an alley that led to the tram station. She was so caught up, in her own thoughts that she never a large figure emerge from the shadows of the alley's walls. Yue was midway between the two streets that the alley connected to; when her mouth was covered by a large hand and she was slammed into the alley wall.

"If you struggle, this will only get worse." A harsh voice whispered in her ear.

'_Fucking, hell no!_' Yue's mind screamed as she felt her pants being pulled down. Remembering, that she was wearing her gauntlets; Yue aimed her left hand down and released the hidden blade. Less than a split second later, she was rewarded with an agonizing scream from her attacker. Hoping to cause him more pain, Yue dug the blade around. Doing everything from moving it up and down to moving it from side to side.

Within seconds, her attacker released her. Knowing she had to end this, Yue spun around as fast as she could and slammed the hidden blade of her right gauntlet as had as she was able into the man's chest, where his heart was located. Yue, closed her eyes for a moment as the red blood spurted forth from the puncture. When she no longer heard him breathing, Yue pushed him off the blade and opened her eyes.

When she looked down at her attacker, she gasped at what she saw. There, dead at her feet, in white pants and green robes was a Dai Li agent. "Son of a bitch," Yue whispered lowly into the night. Acting quickly, she bent the agent's blood off of her blades and clothes and ran for the tram station.

It wasn't until she was on the stone train, heading back to the Lower Ring that Yue finally let out a breath that she had been holding.

* * *

"So how do you like the city, so far?" Jin asked as picked up her cup of tea. She and Lee's dinner had been served to them and the meal was being finished, so now she was making conversation with her date.

"It's Okay." Lee replied as he picked at his food. "It's a little too crowded for my tastes."

'_Yeah it is, crowded,_' Jin thought to herself as she sipped on her tea. After finishing her sip, she asked, "What do you like to do for fun?"

"Nothing much really," Lee replied. "I do enjoy swimming, playing the pipa, and singing."

"Excuse me, sir, would you and your girlfriend like some dessert?" Interrupted the waiter.

Before Lee could tell the waiter off, Jin replied, "No thanks." The waiter bowed and left.

Jin turned her gaze back to Lee and said, "You sing? You don't really look like the kind of guy who would sing."

"Truthfully, I'm not. My mother made me practice. At first it was to help with my sister to sleep, when she was a baby. Afterwards, it was to get her interested in singing too. However, she had no talent for it and grew to dislike it. I haven't actually sung in five years."

"What happened to your mom and sister?"

"I woke up one morning and my mother was gone. As for my sister, we split up."

"Oh? Do you think you'll be seeing her in the city?" Jin asked as she grabbed a bowl of noodles and began slurping them down.

"I doubt it." Lee replied, before focusing his attention back on Jin and taking note of how she was just inhaling the noodles. "You have… quite an appetite, for a girl."

"Um…, thanks?" Jin replied uncertainly. "So, Lee, where were you and your Uncle living before you came here?"

"Well, we've been traveling around for a long time."

"Oh! Why were you traveling so much?"

"We were, uh, part of this traveling circus."

"Really? What did you do? Wait let me guess." Jin tapped her chin thoughtfully for a moment before guessing. "You juggled."

"No, I didn't." Lee replied. "I tried to but couldn't keep track of more than three balls. What I did was be an acrobat."

"Wow! You did all that flipping and stuff high in the air?"

"Yeah. I was okay at it. There were plenty of people better at it then me."

"It still sounds like an interesting time in you life."

The couple was silent of a moment before Jin reached across the table and grabbed his hand saying, "Hey, I want to show you one of my favorite places in the city."

* * *

When Yue arrived back at her apartment, she locked her front door and locked all the windows in the apartment. She then began getting ready for bed and blew out all the candles in the apartment; casting it in darkness.

As Yue laid down in her futon, she was unsure if the Dai Li would come for her or not. So, she put out several bowls of water through out the apartment; just in case.

She then blew out the final candle and slowly fell into a fitful sleep.

* * *

"Any idea as to who did this, Min?" A tall green robed man asked his fellow Dai Li agent as they gazed upon the dead body of another Dai Li agent.

"No idea," replied Min. "But I'll tell you who it's not. It's not that monster that's been going around slaughtering people."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because that monster, rips the bodies apart. Chen here just has some stab wounds. Plus, we've all suspected Chen of certain _unsavory_ actions when it comes to dealings with women. I guess one of them didn't like the deal he was offering."

"True. So, how do you want to file this?"

"Let's add it to the monster's killings. Who'll notice one more death?"

With the conversation over, the two Dai Li agents bent the dead body of agent Chen into a ball of earth and headed away into the night.

* * *

The street was dark as Jin and Lee ran through it. "I'm so excited for you to see the Firelight Fountain," Jin said as she led Lee along the street by the hand. "The lamps make the water sparkle and reflect I the pool in the most beautiful way."

A moment later they arrived at the town square that held the fountain. Jin turned to look at the fountain, but felt heart drop as she saw that the fountain was unlit. "I can't believe it. They aren't lit," She said in a sad voice as she had really been wanting to share this place with Lee.

"Close your eyes and don't peek," Lee said next to her. Unsure of what he was going to do, but deciding to trust him; Jin closed her eyes and placed her hands over her eyes. After a couple of moments, she heard Lee speak again, saying, "Okay, now you can open them."

Jin opened her eyes and gasped at what she saw, the candles were now lit. "Oh, wow…," she gasped as she walked forward. "What happened? How did they light? What did you…," She asked, but stopped as she saw Lee smiling at her. Jin decided to quite herself and enjoy the moment.

As they stood next to each other, Jin slid her hand into Lee's causing him to turn to her. Slowly, she began to lean closer to him; when a piece of paper was suddenly put in her face. "I brought you something. It' a coupon for a free cup of tea," Lee said explaining the piece of paper.

"Lee, that is so sweet." Jin spoke as she took the coupon from him.

Lee took a couple of steps back as her nervously replied, "Don't thank me. It was my Uncle's idea. He thinks you're our most valuable customer."

"Your Uncle is a good teacher," Jin said as she put the coupon away. "I have something for you too," She continued as she walked up to him and placed her and on his left cheek. "Now it's your turn to close your eyes."

Lee seemed to want to resist her, but he did as she asked and closed his eyes. Jin stepped forward and closed her own eyes as her lips met his in a soft sweet kiss. She kissed him for only a second before she began to pull away and to her great surprise, he leaned forward and continued the kiss. Suddenly, he broke the kiss and backed away from her. "What's wrong?" Jin asked him.

"It's complicated. I don't want to see you get hurt," Lee replied as he turned away from Jin. "I have to go." Lee then ran; he ran as hard as his legs could go.

Jin stared after him watching him go feeling sad, lonely, and worst of all hurt.

* * *

Iroh patiently trimmed the small bonsai tree in the window sill as he waited for his nephew to return. Unable to help himself, he stuck his head out of the window and glanced around in slight worry as Zuko wasn't the best at dealing with people, much less girls, his own age. He then heard the door to the apartment open and leaned back, not wanting Zuko to see that he had been concerned as he knew his nephew hated that.

"So, how was your night Zuko?" Iroh asked him. Instead of receiving an answer, Iroh watched as Zuko walked across the living room to his bedroom and slammed the door. '_That's not a good sign,_' the aged firebender thought to himself.

Iroh was about to turn back around, when the door opened ever so slightly, just enough to show Zuko's face, and Zuko said, "It was nice." Before closing the door, softly. Iroh smiled as turned around and went back to trimming the bonsai tree.

* * *

She should have been home an hour ago, but she wasn't. She knew her mother would be pissed, but she didn't care. Those were the thoughts running through Jin's mind as she approached the front door of her house. Not wanting to open the door and run the risk of waking her parents with the creaking of the hinges; Jin earthbent herself into the ground and moved under the door, before emerging from the ground on the other side of the door.

Slowly, Jin made her way to the stairs to head up to her room. Just as she reached the stairs a creak was heard. Thinking that she had somehow made noise, Jin froze. The creak was heard again and then again and again. Until, it became creak after creak. Jin glanced around the room trying to find where noise was coming from. Her blood froze in her arteries when she found the source of the creaking noise. The noise was coming from her parent's bedroom.

'_Oh damn,_' Jin thought to herself in revulsion. '_I know my parents are still young, so it would be expected of them to still be having sex. But just the thought of them doing it sickens me._' Moving as quickly as she could, Jin raced up to her room; all the while doing her best not to wake anyone up. The last thing she wanted was to be lectured by her mother, just after her mother finished having sex.

Once inside her room, with the door closed, Jin took out a bottle of Ignis Crepito and took and large sip of the fiery liquor. She continued to drink until the bottle was empty. Once the bottle was empty, Jin began to slowly remove her clothes and throw them haphazardly onto the floor. Leaving herself in only her underwear, Jin grabbed a second bottle of Ignis Crepito and got into her bed. She could feel the alcohol already dulling her scenes and wanted to at least pass out in her bed.

'_Who the hell does Lee think he is?_' Jin thought to herself as she drank the second bottle of Ignis Crepito. '_I may not have been born in Ba Sing Se, but damn it I grew up on these streets; I know what happens. People disappear and reappear a week later different than they were before, The slave trade, women being put into prostration, and the ones in charge all turning a blind eye to it. Lee says he doesn't want me to get hurt as if I'm some sort of pitiful flower._' Jin downed the last of her drink and fell back on her bed. '_Tomorrow I'm going back to Pao's and giving Lee a piece of my mind,_' Jin thought as she slowly succumbed to sleep.

_

* * *

Nice. It was nice._

No, it wasn't really nice. It was great, terrifying, and made him more nervous than he had ever been and he wanted to do it again. It was late, or early depending on how you looked at the time, as Zuko stared up at the ceiling as he lay in his futon and thought about his date with Jin. Going out with her had the most nerve wrecking thing he had ever done. All through out the date he had been expecting something to go wrong. '_And to finish everything off, you just had to firebend,_' Zuko thought bitterly to himself. Why? Why, firebend for her? Zuko knew what would happen if he was caught firebending in the middle of the Earth Kingdom capital. But he didn't care and wanted to firebend for her again.

'_Like that will ever happen,_' Zuko thought as he rolled onto his side. '_After leaving her at the fountain, I doubt she'll ever show up at the tea house again._'

_You may get lucky_; Zuko's conscience spoke back to him.

'_I am never lucky when it comes to girls._'

_Are you sure it's because you're unlucky or could it be that you don't want to be happy?_

'_I want to be happy. I just don't want to have my happiness ripped away from me later._'

_Then let yourself be happy with this girl and if something comes along that threatens to destroy your happiness with her fight it._

'_Alright, fine. If Jin comes to the shop all try to mend things with her!_' Zuko shouted mentally. '_Spirits above, do I ever hate having a conscience._'

_Well, that's your problem. You're the one who grew me._

With a sigh, Zuko closed his eyes and let sleep claim him.

* * *

Xain stood in front of the stove as she slowly stirred the pot that held the family's breakfast, when she heard the heavy footfalls of her daughter. "So, how was your date?" She asked her daughter as the door opened. Upon hearing Jin's exasperated sigh, Xain turned around to see her eldest child slumped over the table and looking pissed at the world.

"The date was going great, until he left me at the end of it," Jin replied grumbling.

"What happened?"

"I don't know!" Jin cried out. "I thought everything was going great. We had a nice walk, a pleasant dinner, and what seemed to be a good time at the fountain."

"The Firelight Fountain?"

"Is there any other fountain, for me?"

"You really most have liked this boy a lot to take him to your favorite spot."

"Yeah, I even kissed him," commented Jin with a small smile on his face.

"Is that what caused to date to go bad?"

"No, in fact he kissed me back. But after he kissed me, he broke away and said he had to leave; that it was complicated and he didn't want me to get hurt."

"Well, maybe it's for the best, sweetie?"

"What do you mean?" Jin asked slightly arching an eyebrow.

"Remember, that conversation you had with your father and I when we questioned the change in your eye color?"

Jin repressed a shutter at the memory. She and her mother had nearly argued for three hours straight. Luckily, her father had gotten her mother to calm down, so things blew over very quickly. "Yes, I do," replied Jin.

"Well, if you're going to bring balance to the world; now isn't the time to start a relationship." Xain said as she placed a bowl of Jook in front of her daughter.

Jin looked up as her mother stood next to her. Her mother was a tall woman with a height of six feet and seven inches. It was such a contrast to her father's height of five feet five inches. "Alright," replied Jin as she began eating her breakfast.

"However, if you have a chance at having some happiness, you should take it."

Jin nodded her head as she scarfed her breakfast down; not wanting to be late for work.

* * *

Yue snapped her eyes open and stared at the ceiling of her apartment for a moment as her mind slowly became aware as to where she was. '_Well, I guess no one saw me kill that Dai Li agent,_' Yue thought to herself.

Yue got out of her futon and had a quick breakfast of just a couple of apples, before then sitting on the floor and starting to meditate. Within seconds she was in her mindscape. Yue's mindscape was a vast barren snow covered wasteland. Surrounding her, in all directions, were snow covered mountains.

"Please recommend the best evasion and/or stealth technique available," Yue asked allowed.

"The best stealth evasion technique would be the Invisibility Technique," replied the disembodied voice that Yue trained from.

'_Invisibility Technique? Sounds interesting,_' Yue thought to herself before speaking again saying, "Give me all the information available on the Invisibility Technique."

"The Invisibility Technique was developed six thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine years ago by a waterbender named Mukluk. Mukluk used the principle behind the Telescope Sphere Technique of reflecting light and images. It took eight years to develop and master the technique, but he did Mukluk was able to become invisible."

"What is the difficulty level of the technique?"

"The difficulty level is fifteen. Since the technique's creation only thirteen waterbenders have been able to use it. Of those thirteen only seven have been able to use it, while moving. This has earned the Invisibility Technique the highest difficulty level ever."

Yue's eyes widened in surprise at the difficulty level of the technique. Currently, the highest level of difficulty she had reached so far was ten.

"Well, let's try it." Yue said to herself as she summoned her water. Over the course of the next few hours, Yue worked on trying to make her left hand invisible. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to make her hand invisible. She could make parts of it invisible, but never the entire hand. So, after sixty hours of training, Yue decided to go ahead and stop trying.

'_I guess that's one technique I won't be able to master,_' Yue thought to herself as she stopped meditating. Even though only an hour had passed, Yue had things to do and couldn't waste time on trying to master a nearly impossible technique.

* * *

The day slowly wore on slowly for Zuko as he waited on the many customers of the tea house. Currently, he stood in the back of the small kitchenette of the tea house, cleaning the tea cups when his uncle came in.

"Your date has returned, Lee." Iroh said as he walked up to the stove.

"Huh?" Zuko asked as he stopped his work on the current cup and turned his head to his uncle.

"Your date from last night is here and sitting in her usual spot," clarified Iroh.

Zuko peeked around the entryway to the kitchen and indeed saw that Jin was sitting at her usual table next to the door. "What's she doing here?" Zuko asked aloud.

"Maybe she's here because she also thought last night was… _nice_." Iroh suggested from the stove.

Zuko rolled his eyes at his Uncle's antics. He dried his hands and gave his shirt a quick brush-off, before walking out of the small kitchenette; to take Jin's order.

* * *

Jin stared at the pamphlet in front of her, but she wasn't reading it. Instead, she was thinking about what she would say to Lee. She was startled out of her thinking when she heard, "Are you ready to order?" Looking up, she looked into the gold and red eyes of her date from last night.

'_He looks nervous,_' Jin thought to herself as she took notice of the way Lee to slightly fidgeting. '_Well, he should be._'

"I am ready to order, but what I want isn't completely on the menu," replied Jin.

"What is it that you would like?" Lee asked her.

"I would like a cup of Jasmine and I want to talk to you."

"Okay. I'll get you your cup of tea and take my break," replied Lee as he turned to get Jin her cup of tea.

Lee returned a minute later with a cup of tea in his hand and his apron off. He placed the cup of tea in front her, before then sitting across from her. Jin picked up the cup and took a sip; letting the tasteful liquid wash over her tongue and slide down her throat. Placing the cup back on the table, Jin stared at Lee for a moment before asking, "Do you not like me, Lee?"

Without thinking, Lee replied, "No. I like you a lot."

That statement sent a blush onto both of their cheeks. "Then why did you leave the way you did, last night?" Jin asked.

The back of Zuko's neck began to break out in a small sweat. He hadn't thought of a reason to use as to why he would leave her. "Um…"

"You said you didn't want to hurt me. I hate to tell you Lee, but I've grown up in Ba Sing Se. I've seen how people are made to disappear, the slave trade, forced prostration, and how those in power turn a blind eye to _all_ of it. It's a little too late for me _not_ to be hurt. I'm not some delicate little flower that's just going to crumble over at the first sign of trouble or something bad happening. I can take a hit, Lee."

"You're right," Lee replied with a sigh as he looked down at the table. "I shouldn't have thought of you so poorly. For that, I'm sorry."

"Thanks, Lee."

"You're welcome."

"Will you tell me why it's complicated?"

"I want to, but I can't; not right now. Hopefully someday I will be able to."

"If you don't want to that's okay, Lee. I trust you."

"I do have a question to ask you though."

"What do you want to ask me, Lee?"

"The day after tomorrow I've got off. I was wondering if you'd like to go our on an all-day-date with me?"

Jin's eyes widened in surprise. '_Did Lee just ask me out on a date? I wasn't expecting this. At worst, I thought he's say he never wanted to see me again. And at best, I thought we'd be able to be good friends. This is much better than what I was originally expecting._' Jin thought to herself. '_Stop thinking and say yes, you idiot._'

"YES!" Jin shouted, sending Lee jumping back slightly. Catching the volume of her voice, Jin looked down at the table as her cheeks filled crimson with a blush. "I mean, sure that'd be nice. I've got nothing better to do."

"Okay," replied Lee once he had gotten over Jin's shout. He then stood up and picked up Jin's empty cup. Before walking back to the kitchenette, he bent down and kissed Jin's cheek. Whispering into her ear, he said, "Don't worry about the tea; it's on the house. See you in a couple of days."

It wasn't until she was walking home, that Jin let a big satisfied smirk fall onto her face.

* * *

As Zuko entered the kitchen, Iroh turned to him and asked, "So, how did it go?"

"It went fine." Zuko replied. "I asked if she wanted to spend the day together on my up coming day off and she said, yes. My only problem now is figuring out how we're going to spend the day."

"If I might offer some advice, nephew?"

'_I'm going to regret this, aren't I?_' Zuko mentally asked himself, before saying, "Sure Uncle."

"A woman is like a great cup of tea…," Iroh began; before Zuko started tuning him out.

'_Yep, I'm regretting it. It's another _Tea_ Proverb,_' Zuko thought to himself with a sigh as he went back to cleaning the dishes.

* * *

Aang and Sokka were sitting at the table in the living room, as they ate lunch and discussed their mysterious visitor from nearly a week ago. It was just the two of them; as Katara and Toph had decided to go out and have a 'Girl's Day Out'. Well, it was more Katara decided and dragged Toph against her will.

"So, what do you think about what the fire guy said?" Sokka asked Aang.

"About which part," Aang asked back.

"All of it really, I guess. But mostly, what he said about the Fire Nation's strength. I looked through the stuff I took from Wan Shi Tong's Library and found no mention of any Waterbenders or Earthbenders being part of the Fire Nation."

"But Sokka, those books and papers are anywhere from hundreds to thousands of years old. The last time I was in the Fire Nation was over a hundred years ago. A lot has probably changed. Also, I've never even been to the capital island; I've only heard about it from my friend Kuzon."

"Well, what did Kuzon have to say about it?" Sokka asked with a slight roll of his eyes.

"Kuzon said that the city was large, but not nearly as large as Ba Sing Se. The main section of the city, with the Imperial Palace, resides in a dormant volcano. The harbor section of the city is nearly as big as the main section and even goes halfway up the side of the volcano. There's also the industrial section on the north side of the island, but Kuzon never went there. That's all I know about the capital island," explain Aang.

"That's not really much to go on. Besides, I've been thinking and I think that guy was lying to us."

"Why would you say that?"

"Well, you heard him, '_Don't get in our way_'. I think the guy was part of a ploy by Long Feng to hinder us from finding Appa and telling the Earth King about the war."

"So, what do you suggest we do?"

"Well, we've been in Ba Sing Se for twelve days now; let's stay low for another eight days and then we'll start really looking for Appa."

"Why eight days, of doing nothing?" Aang asked, wanting to know why he should continue to up off his search for his lost bison.

"I figure that eight days is good for luring those Dai Li guys into a false sense of security. Also, I don't think the people of the Lower Ring are going to be overly happy to see you for a while after that animal moving stunt you pulled."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Aang replied with a sheepish grin.

* * *

Xain looked up from the book she was reading when she heard the door being opened. Seeing her daughter Jin walk in with a smile on her face, she asked, "Did something good happen at work today, Jin?"

Jin walked across the small room and sat on the opposite side of the table before answering her mother. "Work was alright, but it's what happened after work that's good."

"What happened?"

"Well, after work I stopped by Pao's Family Tea House to talk with Lee about last night and guess what?"

"What?"

"He admitted that he was wrong and I was right! _He_ even asked _me_ out on an all day date two days from now," Jin replied, the excitement filling her voice.

"What about what I said this morning?" Xain asked with an arched eyebrow.

"What about what you said abut taking a chance at having happiness?" Jin countered logically.

"Fair enough," replied Xain with a shrug. "So where will you go on the date?"

"I'm not really sure. I guess I'll just meet him at the tea house and we'll see where the day takes us."

"Well, if you need an idea on a place to visit, I have a suggestion. Try the Lower Ring Ba Sing Se Zoo. It just opened in a new area right outside the Outer Wall. It's become quite the popular spot from what your sister, Tida, said when she got home yesterday; from her first day back at work."

"Tida, was able to get her job back with the zoo?" Jin asked.

"Well, now that the zoo is making money, they can afford to pay her."

"Alright, well I'll think about going there. My big problem though, is I have no idea what to wear."

"With the money everyone's bringing in, I think we can afford to splurge a little an go out shopping for a new dress," Xain commented with a soft grin.

"Can we really?" Jin asked with excitement in her voice.

"We can't do it for every date, but for this one; sure."

Jin reached across the table and hugged her mother gratefully.

"Come on now; help me get supper started."

* * *

Deep within the higher plains of Spirit World Kiirojimen, Aoihi, and Akaimizu were sitting around a large table speaking on the involvement that their champions would soon face.

"You've both felt the flux in power in Ba Sing Se, haven't you?" Kiirojimen asked his fellow elders.

"Yes," Akaimizu curtly replied.

"Our champions will meet in four day's time. Once they meet, we will explain the situation to them." Aoihi spoke with a shrug.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to wait the extra four days?" Kiirojimen asked.

"Yes." Was the short and simple reply given back to him.

"Do we at least know what is causing this power flux?" Akaimizu asked

"We believe it may be the Varsealm," replied Kiirojimen with a grim filled voice.

"The Varsealm? But the Varsealm hasn't actively made a move in over four thousand years. Not since…" said Aoihi.

"Not since they corrupted the Avatar and made her insane," Akaimizu finished.

"These actions are too noticeable; to be the work of Koh," Kiirojimen continued. "We've felt several spaces through out the Physical World were reality is weakened. Whatever happens, it's going to be big."

* * *

"You can't be serious," Jin said in a deadpanned voice, as she looked at the dress her mother was holding.

"Why not?" Xain questioned. "This is a perfectly respectable dress."

"Yeah, back when Grandmother was dating," Jin relied. She then took a dress off the clothing rack and asked, "Why not this one?" The dress in question was dark green with a gold trim. It was obvious by the length of the dress that Jin would be showing plenty of her legs. To top it all off, there was a peep window on the chest to give any and all on-lookers a perfect view of the wearer's cleavage.

"Jin, you're going out on a date. Not dressing up like some gold piece whore."

"Oh, come on mom. Maki's sister wears several dresses like this and she's _married_."

"Yes, and what do Menthe and her husband do for a living?"

"They own a brothel," Jin answered in a defeated voice.

After a couple more hours of shopping, Jin and her mother finally settled on a mutual dress. The dress was dark green with gold trimming and was set in a nice qipao style. The length would reach to just above Jin's ankles. On the right side a slit ran up the skirt that would end at Jin's thigh. While on the left, a golden dragon was sewn into the fabric; climbing on the length of the skirt.

"Do you think Lee will think I look good in the dress?" Jin asked her mother as they walked to their house.

"Sweetie, that poor boy want be able to keep his hands off of you," Xain replied with a smile. "At which point you will need to…"

"Tell him to move his hands or he'll be pulling back bloody nubs," Jin finished.

"That's my girl."

* * *

"So, you've got everything under control here?" Zuko asked as he pulled at the white collar of his suit. He was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and pants under a dark green shirt and had a green sash tied around his waist.

"Everything is fine, Lee. Now go and enjoy your date," Iroh replied as he ushered Zuko out of the shop.

Zuko stepped out of the tea house and waited for only a moment before hearing, "Hey Lee." Zuko turned around to see Jin walking up to him in a casual, but still form fitting, qipao dress.

"Hey Jin, you look great," Lee said with a slight blush on his cheeks.

"Thanks Lee, you look great too," replied Jin. She then took his hand and the young couple made their way slowly down the street.

"So, where would you like to go?" Lee asked after a few minutes of walking.

"Well, I was thinking that we could visit the Lower Ring Ba Sing Se Zoo."

"There's a zoo in the Lower Ring?" Lee questioned with surprise.

"I'm not surprised that you haven't heard of it. For a while the zoo as relatively closed as no one ever went to it. However, it just got a new facility just outside the Inner Wall. It's picked up so much business that my sister Tida was able to get her old job back with the zoo."

"Oh, your sister works there? What does she do?"

"She does a little bit of everything. Tida helps clean up, feed the animals, give tours, and help with the birthing of baby animals."

"Sounds like a lot."

"It is, but she enjoys it."

After half an hour of walking, the young couple arrived at the zoo. They spent several hours at the zoo; looking at every thing from the Turtle-Seals to the Armadillo-Tiger. However, when Jin saw the mother Rabbaroo with her babies, it was almost impossible to get her to leave them.

"I don't see what the big deal was about the baby Rabbaroos," Lee said with a sigh as he was finally able to pry Jin away from the Rabbaroos and head for the exit.

Glomping his arm and hugging it to her chest Jin replied, "But they were just so cute and cuddly."

"I guess," replied Lee with a blush.

"So where would you like to go for our late lunch?" Jin asked as the exited the zoo.

"There's this place I heard about from my uncle. He says it's rather plain, but the food is great."

The young couple walked for another hour to get to the restaurant, as it was nearly on the side of the Lower Ring. As they entered the restaurant, they saw that it was as Mushi described to Lee. The walls were old and wooden. The lighting was low, but it held a friendly atmosphere. Jin and Lee choose a table in the center and waited for their server to arrive. Their wait wasn't long, as soon a short black haired man was wheeling up what looked like a movable kitchen stove to their table.

"Welcome to Kayoto. I will be your server, Hahn." The man said, introducing himself. "May I interest you in an appetizer?"

"Could we get an order of grilled mushrooms?" Jin inquired.

"Certainly," Hahn replied. He left, going into the restaurant's kitchen and walked out a moment later with a small bowl of fresh mushrooms.

Hahn set the mushrooms on the stove top and lit the furnace under it. Quickly, he chopped up the mushrooms to begin grilling them. Within minutes the sweet smell of grilled mushrooms filled the air. With lightning fast reflexes, Hahn scooped up the mushrooms and tossed them high into the air. As the mushrooms rose to the peak of the throw, Hahn slathered a slightly sweet sauté sauce. When the mushrooms landed, he began to twist them, turn them, and flip them; making sure every inch of the mushrooms were covered in the sauce.

Jin sat in awe of the cooking show; while Lee sat in less awe, but was still impressed. Such movements he had only seen when welding his Dao Blades. Lee never thought that such skills could also be used in the cooking of food.

A moment later, Hahn pulled a large plate and in one swipe scooped all of the mushrooms onto the plate. "Your grilled mushrooms sir and lady."

After being thanked for the food, Hahn asked, "Are you ready to order?"

Jin and Lee both gave their order having decided to split a large order of Chicken-Quail fajitas. The young couple sat and pleasantly ate the grilled mushrooms as Hahn amazingly prepared the fajitas. All to soon the meat was cook, along with peppers and onions and was being placed on the table between Jin and Lee.

"That was an impressive show, Hahn." Zuko said as the cook doused the fire in the furnace.

"Thank you very much sir, but this was nothing. I've cooked this way for nearly twenty years now," replied Hahn. "Now if you want to see a real show, I suggest '_Forbidden Love_' playing at the Lan-Cho Theater. It was the most romantic play my wife and I have been to n a long time."

Thinking fast, Lee asked, "Do they have an evening showing?"

"Well, it's more of a night showing." Hahn replied. "The next showing will be in three and a half hours."

After getting directions to the theater for Hahn, Lee turned to Jin and asked, "How would you like to see Forbidden Love, after dinner?"

'_With how long those plays last, I'll be extremely late getting home,_' Jin thought to herself. As she looked into Lee's eyes she decided, '_What the heck._' "Sure Lee, I'd love to go," replied Jin.

After finishing their pleasant mean and Lee paying for the bill, the young couple walked hand in hand to the tram station to take the stone train to the Middle Ring were the Lan-Cho Theater was located. As they arrived at the theater, the sun had already dipped behind the walls. Seeing no line they walked right up to the ticket booth and Lee asked the young woman in the ticket booth to two audience tickets for Forbidden Love.

"I'm sorry, but we've sold all of our audience tickets for Forbidden Love," replied the young woman. "However, we do have a balcony tickets still available. I can sell then to you at half price."

"Fine," replied Lee as he pulled out his money.

Soon Jin and Lee were sitting in the balcony all alone. They had decided to forgo snacks as they had just recently eaten. Soon the candles in the auditorium were snuffed out as one lone light shined on the stage. A lone man in a black formal robed stepped out onto the stage and spoke.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I am the playwright Liu," he said introducing himself. "Tonight's play is a tale of two young lovers from opposing warring towns, who meet and fell in love. But because they were from opposing towns their love was forbidden. This is their tale, the tale of Forbidden Love." Liu bowed deeply at the audience's applause and walked off the stage as the curtain rose.

The play was about a young woman named Oma and her love Shu. Their villages had been at war with each for several decades when they first meet on top of a mountain. Instead of attacking when they first spotted each other, they talked; slowly getting to know each other over the course of their conversation.

As the play wore on, Lee felt a weight pressing up against the right side of his body. Looking down he saw that Jin had begun to lean against him.

'_What I'm I suppose to do?_' Lee thought to himself in a small panic. '_What would Uncle say?_ "Lee, I woman is like a beautiful flower. You must hold it firm, but gently by the bud." _Great, even when I'm trying to sound like Uncle I still don't get what he's saying. Well, here goes nothing._'

Lee slowly moved his arm from between himself and Jin and gently wrapped his arm around Jin's shoulders.

Jin's eyes widened slightly as she felt Lee's arm around her. As she turned to look at him, she caught him quickly turning his head back to the stage. However, he wasn't able to stop her from noticing the faint blush on his cheek. '_Aww, that's so cute,_' Jin thought to herself. She slowly leaned closer towards him; intending to kiss his cheek.

As he felt Jin pressing more and more into him, Lee turned his head to see what Jin was doing and was surprised by having her lips press into his own.

Their eyes widened greatly as they froze in the kiss, but neither would pull away. Lee slowly began to kiss back, lowering his hand from Jin's shoulder to her back. Unable to stop herself, Jin moaned softly into the kiss.

Hearing Jin moan was a pleasant sound to Lee's ears. Wanting to hear her moan more, Lee deepened the kiss.

Jin tightly grabbed a fist full of Lee's short dark hair and held on as a feeling of ecstasy washed over her. Jin unbuttoned the top button on her dress, exposing her next to the cool air.

By some unknown force and/or reason to him, Lee began to lean forward. He didn't stop until he was on top of Jin; both of them lying vertically on the balcony bench. Slowly, Lee began to kiss away from Jin's lips. Planting soft hungry passionate kisses all along her cheek, jaw, neck, and ending at her exposed shoulder, revealing in the taste of her skin.

Jin bit her bottom lip hard as she tried to keep from moaning. Unfortunately, she was unable to do so and her lips parted, freeing her voice.

The noise was deafening. Jin and Lee's eyes snapped open and their bodies sprang apart. The play had just ended and the applause of the audience had drowned out the loud noise of Jin's moan.

"That was certainly a _great_ play." Jin said as she hastily buttoned the top button back. "Best I've ever seen."

"Indeed, it was something unique." Lee added, straightening his shirt. "I've never seen a _play_ like that, before."

"Well, maybe you'll get your chance to see one again." Jin said seductively as they made their way quickly from the balcony.

As he was too busy wondering what she had planned with that statement, Lee never replied.

Only once they were on the stone train did Lee speak. "I know I screwed this up last time, but would yu like for me to walk you home?"

"That very sweet of you Lee," replied Jin. "I'd love for you to walk me home.

Once the arrived back in the Lower Ring, Jin began to give Lee directions to her house. The moon hung high and bright in the dark sky as you young couple slowly walked hand in hand down the street. Half an hour later, they were standing outside Jin's house.

"I had a great time with you today, Lee." Jin said as she turned to face him.

"I had a great time too," replied Lee as he gazed deeply into Jin's eyes. "I hope you'd like to have more great times with me?"

"YES!" Jin shouted, without thinking.

Suddenly a window on the third floor of the house opened and a young, short brown haired girl stuck her head out the window and shouted. "HEY SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO SLEEP! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TIME IT IS? GET YOUR ASS IN THE HOUSE!"

"LIN, YOU SHUT THE HELL UP AND GO BACK TO SLEEP!" Jin yelled back before facing Lee again. "Sorry about that," she said. "Little sisters can be pain in the ass."

"Don't worry about it," replied Lee.

"Well, I should get inside." Jin said. She then leaned forward and gave a quick kiss. "Good night Lee," she said as she dashed into her house.

Lee slowly began his trek home with a content smile on his face. '_Things just could be more perfect in my life right now,_' he thought to himself as he looked up at the moon. '_So, what's going to happen now to fuck it up?_'

* * *

Its pale yellow eyes glowed against the inky blackness of its flesh. Loudly it snorted as it inhaled the crisp night air and the stench of decay filled its nostrils. Slowly, it opened its jagged maw and roared; the sound that could only be described as nails raking across a sheet of slate stone filled the night. It slowly slunk towards the five fallen creatures in metal. The smell of their wonderful bloody flesh hung heavily in the air. With its razor sharp claws it tore the metal open on the nearest body and began to feast; starting with the heart. Interesting, it was as if some one had packaged food for it, in a metal container. Such fascinating creatures these humans; and tasty too!

**

* * *

**

**Next Chapter: We Are the Champions**

**The good times are over folks. The shit about to hit the fan.**

**Well, I hope you enjoyed reading the sixth chapter of '**_**Spirit of Fire**_**'. Please be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think. I want to thank FireChildSlytherrin5, SpyralHax, and Densharr for all their help in letting me bounce story ideas off of them.**

**A couple of things to note in the story. First, Zuko's been on a ship for three years and before that his only female interactions was with his mother and Azula and her friends. He doesn't have a lot of experience with women, so he's going to be a little awkward on the dates and Jin will be taking charge of their romantic life. Also, since he's been stuck on a ship since he was thirteen, he's going to notice a woman's more private areas. Which is why, I wrote how he was looking at Jin's chest. Before anyone asks, Zuko doesn't know that Appa is missing. That part of the conversation between Long Feng and Aang wasn't revealed to him. Also, the Elder Spirits will be able to do many strange and unexplainable things so don't look for an explanation. I put the scene of Yue failing to learn a technique to show that the Champions aren't all powerful. Even they will have their limits. If you have any questions, please ask. Also, be sure to check out my new poll in my profile.**

**Now, please leave a review and grab your fanny pack, cause we're going to Vegas.**


	7. We Are the Champions

**Spirits' Creed (formerly Spirit of Fire)**

**Chapter 7: We are the Champions**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender**

* * *

Sweat dripped down Zuko's well toned muscled body as he trained vigorously in his mindscape. He was in the midst of trying to master a difficult and deadly Firebending technique called, Mental Explosion. It was one of the more recently developed techniques, having been created in the last three hundred years. Mental Explosion, gave the bender the ability to create explosions with their mind. The problem was that it kept blowing up in Zuko's face.

Zuko frustratingly growled, as he stood up after being thrown back a few yards. "That's it! This technique isn't worth all this. The Flame Eye is a much better technique to use, than this."

The Flame Eye was a technique that enabled a Firebender to use their firebending with only their eyes. Of course, it lacked the refined fanes of firebending with the movements or even the fingers. But it still got the job done. Mastery of the Flame Eye allowed a Firebender to be able to call a three feet worth of fire. Zuko, however, had so far only been able to make a two inch flame appear; still, a small spark is all it takes to start a raging inferno. Although the flame was only two inches, he was able to set it at any temperature he wished; causing it to cut through metal and even melt earth.

Zuko took a couple of deep breaths before asking, "What are my current stats?"

The air shimmered for a second as gold lettering appeared before him, revealing his stats.

_Name: Zuko_

_Title: Banished Prince of the Fire Nation, Champion of Fire_

_Alias: Kuzon, Lee, The Blue Spirit_

_Age: 16_

_Weapon of Choice: Dual Dao Swords_

_Flames Mastered: Basic, Training, Healing, Blue, Pleasure, and is able to bend red Lightning._

_Techniques Mastered: Heat Vision, Flame Eye, Dragon's Breath, Lavabending, Heat Manipulation, Heat Shield, Burning Hand, Big Bang Boom, Flight by Fire, Flare, Multi-blast, Fire Daggers, Rapid Fire Bursts, and Condense Heat Wave._

_Additional Notes: Current strength rivals that of The Dragon of the West. It is advised that you do not reveal your full strength while in the city._

"Impressive," Zuko said as he read over his stats. His mindscape then shimmered for a moment as the Elder Spirit of Fire, Aoihi, appeared.

"Greetings, Crown Prince Zuko." She said formally.

"Elder," Zuko replied with a bow.

"You have grown very strong, since I first met you, Prince of the Fire Nation. Now, it is time for you to meet your partners. Change into your clothes and go here," Aoihi instructed as she showed Zuko a hidden ally.

"Yes, Elder," replied Zuko as Aoihi vanished.

Zuko exited his mindscape and began to dress in the outfit he had worn nearly a week ago, when he contacted the Avatar's group. After tying the dark red sash around his waist, Zuko put the mouth veil and lifted up the hood. He quickly wrote a note to his uncle and leapt out the apartment window.

If he had left a minute later, Zuko would have been joined by a black and blue clothed hooded figure, who jumped out of the apartment above his.

* * *

Jin ran along the rooftops of the Lower Ring, making her way towards the distention that Kiirojimen had showed her. The sun had dipped behind the wall; even though it hadn't completely set. This bathed the Lower Ring streets in darkness, but kept it bright on the roofs. Not that it really mattered as no one ever bothered to look up.

'_So, the time has finally come,_' Jin thought to herself, as she landed on the roof after having jumped over an alley. Her Guan Dao was securely strapped to her back and thanks to her Earthbending, the nine steel rings never moved.

Jin soon reached her distention and jumped into the darkened alley.

* * *

Yue glanced around the darkened alley as she rose from her crouched landing. '_Akaimizu said that the alley is hidden to everyone, except the three champions, by the elder's powers. The entry way is also hidden, but as a champion I would be able to _feel_ it,_' Yue thought as she looked around.

Feeling herself being pulled to the other side of the alley, Yue carefully searched over the darkened walls when she felt an unexplainable reason to look down. Looking down, Yue saw that the Water Tribe symbol had been carved into the stone tile. Placing her hand on the symbol, Yue recited the words that she had been told. "I am Akaimizu's chosen champion of water. I am the unstoppable tsunami, Yue." With those words spoken, the stone tiles started to shift. The low grinding noise of stone scraping against stone as the tiles shifted and moved. Within moments a long narrow staircase was revealed, leading down into the darkness. Taking one last look around, Yue descended down the stairs.

* * *

As he reached the bottom of the bottom of the staircase, Zuko saw a large wooden door a few yards in front of him; lit only by a few burning torches. He opened the door, making the hinges groan loudly, and stepped through into a large brightly lit chamber. The chamber was large, at least as large as a city block and as tall as a three-story house. The ceiling of the chamber was shaped like a dome. Including the door he went through, there were eleven doors lining the walls. In the center of the chamber was a large miniature-scale model of Ba Sing Se and a little off to the side was a table with four chairs.

At that moment, two loud groans were heard as the doors with the water symbol and the earth symbol opened. From the door with the water symbol stepped out a hooded figure in black and blue. On the figure's forearms were two silver gauntlets. From the door with the earth symbol stepped out a hooded figure in black and green. Strapped to the figure's back was a Guan Dao. It was easy to tell that both of the hooded figures were female. '_Great,_' Zuko thought sarcastically to himself. '_I'm going to be out voted in everything._'

"Welcome," called a voice from the table. The three champions looked at the table to see three Elder Spirits hovering before it.

"I am Aoihi, Elder Spirit of Fire." The blue skinned female spirit spoke, introducing herself to the champions of earth and water.

"I am Akaimizu, Elder Spirit of Water." The red skinned female spirit spoke, introducing herself to the champions of fire and earth.

"I am Kiirojimen, Elder Spirit of Earth." The yellow skinned male spirit spoke, introducing himself to the champions of water and fire.

"Please sit, so that we may speak." Kiirojimen said, gesturing to the chairs at the table.

Zuko and the two unknown females walked to the table and sat down. The black and green female choose the seat on the right; while, the black and blue female choose the seat on the left. Leaving Zuko to sit right between the two.

"We have chosen you three out off all the benders in the world to be our champions." Akaimizu started.

"Why did the three of you, pick the three of us?" The black and green champion asked in a familiar sounding voice.

"We picked you because, because the three of you have what it takes to be our champions. We have given you a nearly impossible task, so to complete this task; you need to be of nearly unlimited power," Aoihi answered.

"Why is there only three of us? Why is there no Champion of Air?" Zuko asked. It had been bothering him slightly in the back of his mind.

"There is no Champion of Air simply because there is no Airbender to be champion," replied Kiirojimen answered. "The only Airbender is the Avatar and the Avatar cannot become a champion."

"But, what about the Elder Spirit of Air?" The black and blue champion asked.

"Midorikaze, is the Elder Spirit of Air. Ever since Sozin began this war, he has been barely clinging to life," Aoihi answered. The table between them shimmered and an image began to appear. The image showed a sickly looking green skinned spirit, that was Midorikaze. "This is how he has been since the destruction of the Air Nomads. Our living depends on the benders of our element living, so Midorikaze only has the Avatar to support his life. If the Avatar dies, then so does Midorikaze."

"Hold on, you said that if I didn't complete my mission that you'd kill all the Firebenders!" Zuko yelled as he looked at Aoihi. "Also, you said that if the Avatar got in the way of our mission that we were allowed to kill him."

"I said I would kill all of the Fire Nation Firebenders." Aoihi replied coolly. "There are plenty of Firebenders born in the Earth Kingdom for me to not have to worry about dying. As for the Avatar, I knew you wouldn't kill him."

"You bitch!" Zuko growled.

"Thank you," replied Aoihi with an overly sarcastic smile.

* * *

"What is this place?" Jin asked the three Elder Spirits after a moment of intense silence between the black and red champion and the Elder Spirit of Fire. She was unsure how to feel about the black and red champion, she knew he was from the Fire Nation; his outburst proved that if nothing else. As a child, Jin grew up being told to fear the Fire Nation; especially, from her mother several years ago when the Dragon of the West laid siege to Ba Sing Se's Walls for six hundred days.

"This is the Elemental Chamber," replied Akaimizu. "Country to what many humans think, we don't see everything that happens in the Physical World. We are, however, able to feel the energies of the Physical World and recently the energies have been fluxing showing that a dark presence is in the city. The presence is covering the city, so we are unable to pinpoint it. The presence is heaviest in the Lower and Middle Rings. While you are here in Ba Sing Se, we want you to find the cause of this. You may start by looking in on anything illegal."

Kiirojimen continued saying, "There are four entrances for each champion; as well as four sleeping quarters for each champion. The remaining three doors are as follows; a training room, a weapons room stock full of weapons and has a forge and tools for designing new weapons, the last room is a library. The library is small, but it is more complete on having useful information than even Wan Shi Tong, who while knowing ten thousand things; doesn't know ten thousand useful things. Use these rooms to the best of your abilities as you search for the cause of this darkness."

Aoihi finished, by saying, "We believe that the origin of the darkness may be from the Varsealm. The Varsealm is a place of pure sadness, despair, darkness, and evil. The last time the Varsealm actively made a move in the Physical World was over four thousand years ago, when they corrupted the Avatar. The Avatar was driven insane and we were forced to pick a champion on fight and kill the Avatar."

"If being one of your champions makes us strong enough to kill the Avatar, then why do you need three of us?" Jin asked. Having three of them seemed like overkill.

"Last time it was only the Avatar that the champion faced. This time, you face the Fire Lord, the entire Fire Nation Army, Navy, and what ever else they might have. There is also the Varsealm to consider as well. One champion wouldn't be enough to face that kind of power." Kiirojimen replied.

"Due to the difficulties that you will be facing, try not to let anyone know who you are just yet." Akaimizu said. "However, you will need to know the identity of each other."

* * *

Along with the other champions, Yue slowly removed her hood. The woman that was in black and green was unfamiliar to Yue. It was obvious that she was a native of Earth Kingdom though. The true shocker was the man who was the champion of fire.

'_Prince Zuko, what is he doing here?_' Yue thought to herself. A part of her was angered at seeing the Fire Prince; while another part of her was shocked that he was the one chosen to be the Champion of Fire by the Elder Spirits.

"The three of you need to get to know each other and trust each other." Aoihi said as the three elders began to fade. "We leave you now to do so."

For a moment that seemed to last forever and at the same time have never even occurred, all was silent in the chamber. Then, it exploded. The prince of the Fire Nation shoved himself backwards as a stalagmite of earth erupted from where he had jut been.

"YOU LIED TO ME!" the Champion of Earth yelled at the fire prince. She slammed her left foot hard on the ground and swung her arms to the left. Suddenly, the prince went flying through the air and crashed into one of the several columns spread through out the room. "Were you ever planning to tell me? Is your name even, Lee?" She asked him.

'_So, that's how he got in. Just by using a different name,_' Yue thought to herself. It was clear that the two of them already knew each other and hadn't known about the other being a champion to the elders. Wisely, Yue kept her mouth shut, but still had her blades at the ready.

"No, my name isn't Lee," replied the prince. "I am Zuko. Prince of the Fire Nation, son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai. I didn't tell you who I was because I'm hiding, I didn't know you that well, and I also figured that you'd react this way. There's also one thing you're forgetting, Jin."

"And what would that be?" The woman now known as Jin asked.

"WHAT ABOUT YOU?" Zuko yelled back at her. "What was all that shit you were talking about a few days ago about wanting to have a relationship? It's going to pretty fucking hard to have a relationship when you're a champion. Let's not forget the fact that you didn't even bother to mention that you were an Earthbender. You were doing the exact same thing that I was doing."

The Earth Kingdom woman gave a yell of frustration and stormed out of the chamber. The prince fell to the floor and with a grunt began to pull himself to his feet, with his back turned to her. Preparing herself for her _talk_ with the Fire Princess, Yue switched the safety of her gauntlets off and moved her hands back.

* * *

Hearing the scrapping of metal, like a blade being drawn, Zuko sprung to his feet and unsheathed his swords. "Don't think I forgot about you, Princess." He said to the Northern Water Tribe Princess. "How are you even alive? Uncle said he saw you die."

"I was dead. Akaimizu, brought me back to life so that I could be her champion," replied Yue. "Why are you here?"

"Were you not paying attention to the conversation?" Zuko asked sarcastically. "I was chosen to be the Champion of Fire by Aoihi."

"What mission were you given?" Yue asked curiously.

"I was tasked with killing Fire Lord Oazi and Princess Azula. Failure to complete this task will result in the destruction of all Fire Nation Firebenders. I cannot allow that to happen; half of the Fire Nation's Population are Firebenders. You should understand about having to serve the people's best interest; with how you gave up your life to resurrect the Moon Spirit."

"I didn't do that for my people. I did it so that I could be free. I didn't want to be a princess, I wanted an escape and giving up my life was the best chance I had at escaping. I was resurrected by Akaimizu to be her champion. If I did my part to end the war, I would be allowed to experience life as I wanted too."

"Well, I, a least, thank you for what you did."

"Why would you even care? You're partially responsible for the Moon Spirit's death. Zhao was your admiral."

"Zhao isn't my admiral. That bastard thought I was dead, because he sent assassins after me. No one I the fleet knew that Zhao was planning to kill the Moon Spirit. If they had known, they would have stopped him."

"Why should I believe that?"

"Have you ever even bothered to look at a map?" Zuko shouted. "The Fire Nation is an island nation. What do you think the Ocean Spirit would have done to the Fire Nation, if you hadn't given up your life for the Moon Spirit? He would have kept using Aang and wiped out the Fire Nation. There is no way any Fire Nation soldier would have let that happen. Zhao, however, had a perverse sense of greatness and self grander."

"Okay fine then, but what about Aang?" Yue asked.

"What about him?"

"Last time I checked, you where hunting him for your father."

"Part of becoming Aoihi's champion was the breaking of my loyalty to the Fire Lord. I was forced to see the wronging of my nation. Besides, it wouldn't matter what I do; I could capture Aang and conquer all of the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes and it still wouldn't be enough to appease my father. He has sent my sister, Princess Azula, out to capture the Avatar and Uncle and kill me."

"Why would he do that?"

"My father hates me. He views me as a weak pathetic excuse for a son. He believes that as the first born, I should have been the best. A young copy of him if you will. However, at six years old, I'm struggling to learn basic Firebending moves while my four year old was able to toss her fire around like a toy. This soon prompted him to favor her over me; so much so that he wants her to succeed him as the next Fire Lord. Unfortunately, there are very strict rules on how a Fire Lord may be succeeded. One such rule is that he may not be succeeded by a daughter, if he has a son. So to get around this, he has aloud Azula the opportunity to kill me to become Fire Lord."

The Water Tribe princess looked at him for a moment, before calling the hidden blades of her gauntlets back. Seeing this, Zuko sheathed his swords. "I don't like you," You said to him. "However, I will put a level of trust in you. If you break my trust in you, I will freeze your blood in your veins."

"Alright."

After a moment of standing and looking at each other, Yue sighed and asked, "So, what's your relationship with that Jin woman?"

"She's my girlfriend. Possibly ex-girlfriend now," replied Zuko.

That was _your girlfriend_?" Yue asked. At seeing the prince nod, she continued, "She was way to hot for you."

"Yeah, I know."

"Will she be able to work with us?" Yue asked curiously. After all, the woman had left with out even knowing who Yue was.

"I'll talk to her. Hopefully, we'll be able to smooth everything out," Zuko replied. "How about we meet back here tomorrow night?"

"Okay. If you need to find me, I live in the Lower Ring at the Deim Apartment Complex room 308 in the Firma District." Yue informed him.

"You're kidding me, right?" Zuko asked deadpanned.

"No, I think I know where I've been living," replied Yue.

"You might find this odd, but I'm also living in that apartment complex. In fact, I'm living right under you."

"You're kidding! You've been living under me for at least a week and I never even knew." Yue said, surprised that Zuko was living under her. "Are you the one responsible for the sent of brewed tea?"

"Actually, that's my uncle. He's an avid tea lover."

"Oh, so that's why my apartment always smells so good. You would happen to know which one of our neighbors has the crying baby would you?"

"It's babies," Zuko relied with a slight wince. He was capable of handling many things, but crying babies weren't one of them. "The Langs, my neighbors directly across from me, have girl triblets and they've just started teething."

"Then I'll defiantly be getting some use out of my room here." Yue said with a light laugh.

The two champions then bid each other a good night and went their separate ways to rest for the following day.

* * *

Jin ran furiously over the roofs of the buildings in the Lower Ring. '_I can't believe he lied to me like that,_' Jin thought to herself.

_Well, what about you?_ Her conscience asked her.

'_What are you talking about?_'

_He was right; you never told him that you were an Earthbender. Also, you were the one wanting the relationship._

'_Oh, shut up._' Jin snapped back.

Moments later Jin arrived back at her house. Not wanting to wake any of her family up, she earthbent a small platform of earth up to her bedroom window and climbed into her room. She was still angry as she took off her clothes and didn't even bother with sleepwear as she climbed naked into bed. She pulled her bed sheets up to her stomach and stared out her bedroom window at the moon. As her anger began to subside she began to slowly drift to sleep. Just as sleep was about to claim her, Jin's eyes snapped open. '_Lee… Zuko's a prince?_' She mentally asked herself. '_I made out with a prince? Sweet._' She then closed her eyes and eased back into a dreamy lull. '_I'm still mad at him._' Was the last thought to drift through her mind as sleep claimed her.

* * *

The night was dark and the air quiet as Lu-Min, walked down the streets Ba Sing Se's Tera District, the city's poorest seediest district, towards his shabby apartment.

'_How dare that white haired bitch humiliate me?_' He thought to himself drunkenly.

A little over a week ago, Lu-Min had been in the midst of _persuading_ his ex-girlfriend, the exotic Lieu, to take him back. Wither she wanted to or not. Needless to say a fight broke out, her fault of course. In the end, he had received a hard kick between his legs from a mysterious white haired female and then was knocked out.

When he woke up, Lu-Min discovered that he was no longer at Virgo or even outside of it. Instead, he was several blocks away and was naked. Not long after waking up the city guard caught him and threw him in jail for the next thirteen days for public indecency. He had been released early that afternoon and the first place he went was to nearest bar and drank until he was cut off by the bartender. Now, he was slowly stumbling home intent on getting revenge on the white haired bitch and make sure Lieu knew her place.

'_I… I'm go..ing to beat the ass of that bitch,_' he thought with a drunken grin.

Poor poor, Lu-Min. If he had been more observant, he would have noticed how everything around him had gone silent, which was next to impossible in Ba Sing Se as there was always noise of some sort. More importantly, he would have taken notice of the six pale yellow glowing eyes watching him.

Oh well, may he have better luck in the next life.

* * *

It looked around at its surroundings. Humans were always so odd, to build such things that the Masters will do away with. Unfortunately, it didn't have time to contemplate the stupidity of humans, it had a mission for the Masters; find the Elder's Champions and kill them if able. Why couldn't the Masters just send there beloved project after them?

Just as it was about to move on, it felt something. Peering down at the street he saw a shabby looking man stumbling about like a Hog-Monkey after sex. However, that wasn't what caught its attention. What caught its attention was that he sensed the Elder's power from this pathetic food sack. It was slight, not enough to be a Champion or even lead him to the champions, but it was still there and the human would make a good meal.

It silenced the area around him and jumped off the roof, landing on the ground below with a nearly inaudible pat. Slowly, it followed the human waiting for the opportune moment to strike. A moment later the human stumbled and fell, as he was picking himself up it charged and struck with its razor sharp claws.

That night the city of Ba Sing Se continued down the path of life; never hearing the anguish cries of a wife-beater as he was ripped apart and eaten by a creature that no mortal could fathom.

* * *

'_The day just seemed like it would never end,_' Zuko thought to himself, as ran over the rooftops of the Lower Ring. He had spent the entire day at Pao's Family Tea House witing for Jin to show; so that they could talk. '_She must be really pissed at me. She showed up after our first date and that date didn't end well._

'

Zuko was lucky to know where she lived and worked. So using his stealth abilities, Zuko snuck into her boss's office and discovered that Jin was working late and would be getting off at sunset. All he had to do now was wait for her to walk down the street and conveniently bump into her. There was just one tiny flaw in his plan; Zuko had no idea which route she took home. Taking into account of where Jin's house was and where her job was located, Zuko kept to the most obvious streets and prayed that he'd get lucky.

* * *

Jin walked quietly down the empty street to her house, as she thought about her relationship with Zuko. She knew she would have to talk to him sooner or later, but she would be more than happy to put it off for as long as she could get away with it.

As she walked down the street, Jin was unaware of six pale yellow glowing eyes watching her.

* * *

Its eyes curled up in glee and ecstasy at its fortune. The previous night it was able to feast on a human barely touched by the Elder's champion. And now, one of those champions was walking just below. Slowly, it climbed down the building in the shadow of the dark alley. As it watched the earth empowered champion walk down the street, its claws lengthened, muscles tensed in anticipation, saliva dripped from its maw as the insatiable hunger grew, and it shook in excitement.

_Kill, kill, kill the human. FEAST ON ITS HEART; TEAR IT APART!_

Just as the green female was nearly out of sight, it charged.

* * *

'_What should I do?_' Jin thought as she headed towards her house.

_Thump_

'_I like him and all, but how can I now trust him?_'

_Thump_

'_Also, how can he trust me? Maybe, we can talk and work thing out. Hopefully, we'll be able to start a new relationship together._' Jin mentally encouraged herself.

_**THUMP THUMP THUMP**_

Jin's eyes widened as she felt the ground shake from heavy footsteps coming up behind her. She quickly spun around and stared in shock at the creature barreling down at her. Its flesh, not so much skin, was ink black. It stood on four powerful legs, like a Pygmy Puma, and it even had paws. Its claws appeared to be two and a half inches long; except the inner claws on the front legs, those looked about six inches long. Its head was large with six glowing pale yellow eyes staring at her. Its mouth looked as though it had never been meant to have lips or flesh around it. From the back of its head there were several, what appeared to be moving, tendrils that were long and thick. The final part was its two very long tails.

Jin quickly snapped to and slammed her foot on the ground while thrusting out her arms. Taking control of the _thing's_ bones, which surprised her, Jin threw the creature back. The creature crashed hard onto the ground.

* * *

Zuko's head snapped in the direction of a loud crash from several streets over. Since he was having no luck finding Jin, he decided to investigate and ran over towards the noise.

* * *

As though it hadn't been hurt, the creature immediately stood and charged at Jin once more. This time instead of just sending the beast back, Jin bonebent it into the air, much like the city kids kicking a ball.

As she watched it fall from the sky, her eyes widened as the beast grabbed onto the side of a building and stayed. It stood as easily as she stood on the ground. The creature opened its mouth to at least a foot and shot its tongue out at her, from fifty yards away. The odd thing about this tongue was that it had a small mouth on the tip of the tongue. A small mouth filled with very sharp teeth.

Thinking that her bonebending would work on the mouth, Jin quickly set out slap the mouth from hitting her. It was with great dread that Jin learned that the mouth was unaffected by her attempt to control it. It was now to late for her to try and doge the attack, it was going to hit no matter where she moved.

'_So, this is how it ends for me?_' She thought to herself.

* * *

As Zuko arrived at the edge of the building he was shocked to see Jin earthbend some monstrous creature away from her and shoot it high into the air. '_Well, I think we can confirm that the Varsealm is involved,_' he thought to himself.

As the creature opened its mouth, Zuko gripped the side of the building and jumped over. Acting quickly, he propelled himself off of the building. Time seemed to slow as he watched the tongue get closer and closer to Jin. As he didn't have his blades, Zuko went with the next best thing; the Burning Hand fire technique. The Burning Hand didn't actually burn his hand; it felt tingly like a leg that had fallen asleep. A firebender would condense the fire in their hands and increase the temperature exponentially. This would cause the hands to glow red, much like a sword being forged. If it was hot enough, it could cut through metal and earth.

He sailed through the air closer and closer to Jin, but the closer Zuko got, the closer the beast's tongue got to her. Just before touching the ground, he pressed his hands together and thrust his hand out; striking the tongue's mouth. As the mouth was severed from the rest of the tongue Zuko heard the monster's anguished cry. However, that was the least of his concerns at the moment.

"Are you alright, Jin?" Zuko asked as he looked back at her.

Jin's eyes widened and she blinked in confusion at what happened. She had thought it was the end for her, but out of nowhere Zuko fell from the sky and burnt the beast's mouth-tongue off.

Jin looked at him and could see the concern he had for her in his eyes. '_He cares…,_' She thought as her brain caught up with everything going on around them. "Yes, I'm fine," she replied.

"I'm glad," Zuko replied, before turning his attention back to the monster, who had just finished pulling it's tongue back into it's mouth. "Are you able to use your earthbending on it's bones?" He asked.

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"I saw you throw it into the air. I think this thing is from the Varsealm."

Jin looked at the monster as it leapt off the wall and landed on the ground.

'_This thing is from part of the Spirit World?_' She thought as she gazed at the horror before her. '_I wonder what else they keep in the Varsealm._'

"Are you able to bend it from this far away?" Zuko asked interrupting her thoughts.

"I think so," replied Jin. Wondering what Zuko had in mind she asked, "Why?"

"I want you to send it towards us."

"What? Are you crazy?" shouted Jin.

"A little," replied Zuko. At that moment the beast began charging towards them. "Do it now."

Taking hold of the monster's bones with her Earthbending, Jin pulled the beast towards them with great speed.

Just as the beast was upon them Zuko jumped into the air and rolled, bringing his still burning hand down right between the creature's eyes. Through the front of the skull, the brains, the back of the skull, through the tendrils, and along the spine, Zuko cut his way through all of it without any difficulty.

With the upper half of its body cut in two and it's brains boiling, it was fair to say that the creature was dead when it crumpled to a heap at Jin's feet.

Releasing his fire technique, Zuko walked over to Jin and said, "We need to get out of here." He then gently grabbed her hand and headed for the nearest alleyway. The walls of the alley were close together, so once they were in the middle o the alley, Zuko picked up Jin and began to up while repealing himself off the walls. A few jumps later, the two teens were sitting on the roof breathing hard as the adrenaline left there systems.

"Thanks for saving me back there." Jin gasped as she breathed heavily.

"Don't mention it," replied Zuko.

After a couple more moments of catching their breath, Zuko finally broke the silence. "So, are we going to talk about last night?"

"I suppose we should." Jin replied solemnly.

"Sorry about yelling at you." Zuko said after a moment of silence.

"Was any of it real?" Jin asked, ignoring Zuko apology.

"What?"

"Our dating was any of it real or was I just something to take up your time?"

"It was real; it was very real," replied Zuko. "My time with you has probably been the most real experience I've had in a long time."

"So, I wasn't some toy or conquest for you?" Jin asked as she turned to look at him.

"No. You are so much more to me then that."

"Then I forgive you." Jin then leaned her head against Zuko's shoulder and sighed contently.

With a small blush on his cheeks, Zuko wrapped his arm around her.

The young couple sat there for several minutes just looking up at the night sky, until Zuko broke the silence. "Well, we need to get going."

"Where are we going?" Jin asked as they stood up.

"To change into our other set of clothes and meet up with Yue at the Elemental Chamber."

"Yue? Who is Yue?"

"Yue is the Champion of Water. You left before getting to meet her, last night."

"Oh yeah," Jin said as she vaguely recalled the other girl from the night before. "Well, would you like to walk me home?"

"Sure." Replied Zuko.

The two teens climbed down from the building and quickly walked along the street towards Jin's house. "So, what am I suppose to call you?"

"Call me Zuko, when it's just us and Lee when we're in public."

"Okay then, _Lee_."

* * *

All to soon, Zuko was saying good by to Jin at her front door, with plans to meet up later. As he turned away from her house and headed towards his apartment, Zuko felt something. It wasn't an ominous feeling or a feeling of giddiness. It was a feeling of another firebender, three firebenders actually. Quickly using his Heat Vision technique, Zuko saw that there were three young firebenders in the building behind him, the building that was Jin's house.

'_Does she even know that there are firebenders in her house?_' Zuko thought to himself. '_In fact, why would there even be a firebender at her house, let alone three? I'll ask her about it later._'

Zuko gave the house one last look before running back to his apartment, there was a lot to do and not nearly enough time to do it.

* * *

Nearly an hour later, Jin was opening the door into the Elemental Chamber. She looked around the room and saw that a white haired girl was sitting at the table next to the model of Ba Sing Se. "Hello," Jin said as she walked over. "You must be Yue."

The girl turned to her and replied. "I am. I take it that you're Jin."

"I am. How did you know?"

"Zuko told me last night, after you left."

"How do you know Zuko?"

"A little over two months ago, the Fire Nation Navy launched an attack on the Northern Water Tribe, my people; Zuko was there to capture Aang. In the end Admiral Zhao killed the Moon Spirit. This caused the moon to go red and for the Waterbenders to lose their waterbending. I gave up my life to revive the Moon Spirit. I was later brought back to life by Akaimizu to be her champion."

"So, you're a princess?"

"Yes, I'm referred to as Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe."

"If only I was a princess, then this would be quite the royal gathering."

Yue laughed at Jin's joke and Jin's eyes widened in realization of who Yue was.

"Hey, I've seen you before. You're Kimiko from Virgo."

"Oh, you know of my alias?"

"Yeah, was there a little over a week ago and the owner pointed you out to me."

"Oh, okay."

The two women sat in silence for a moment, before Yue finally broke and asked a question that she had been wanting to ask since the previous night. "So…, what's it like dating Zuko?"

"What do you mean?" Jin asked confused.

"Well, he has a reputation for being hot headed and a short temper. Plus, there's the reputation of the Fire Nation in general," clarified Yue.

"It's nice dating him. He's quiet, considerate, and thoughtful of my feeling on things we should do on our dates. I've only gone on two dates with him, but I was thinking of having him over soon to meet my parents."

"That's completely different from the rumors I've heard."

"So, what do you think we should do tonight?" Jin asked with a shrug.

"When Zuko shows up, I was thinking we could look into some of these illegal activities the Elders were talking about."

"Good you're both here." A voice said interrupting their talk.

Jin and Yue looked to see Zuko enter, not from the fire entrance, but from the chamber's library and holding a large book in his hands.

"You've been in the library this whole time?" Yue asked him.

"Yes, earlier tonight Jin was attacked and I wanted to know what it was." Zuko replied. He then placed the opened book between them, showing them a drawing of what had attacked Jin. "I was right, the Varsealm is involved. This thing is called a Rataour, it's a common enemy. According to this, it's fairly strong. However, its hunger rules its mind. As long as they're fed they're fairly competent, unless they smell someone with high spiritual energies; like us or the Avatar."

"So, what does this mean for us?" Jin asked.

"It means we stand a good chance of getting ourselves killed if we aren't careful. I've been looking through this book and the Rataour is puny compared to some of the other spirit monsters we could be facing." Zuko told his girlfriend. "So, what have the two of you been talking about?"

"We were just talking about going out tonight to gather some information on illegal activities." Yue replied.

"And, I know were we can get some," added Jin.

Zuko and Yue turned to her waiting for her to continue. "My friend, Maki's older sister, Menthe, runs a brothel with her husband. They don't do anything illegal themselves, but I over heard them talking about a guy, who also runs a brothel and smuggles drugs. I'm sure we can get some information from this guy."

"Where's he at?" Yue asked her.

"He runs The Badger-Mole Lounge in Ba Sing Se's Lower Ring Red District Three." Jin answered as she pointed to the small replica of it in the miniature scale model.

"Alright, let's go then." Yue said and began to walk towards the door while pulling up her hood.

"Hold it." Zuko called out to the princess. "Shouldn't we establish some ground rules, if we're going to work together?"

"What kind of rules?" Jin asked.

"How about not using our real names? We don't want anyone to find us. I'm already using the name, Lee."

"My own fake name is, Kimiko." Yue informed him.

"I guess that leaves me without a fake name then." Jin said before thinking of a name to use. "I'll be called, Taja."

"Taja?" Zuko and Yue asked at the same time.

"I've always thought Taja was a great name." Jin reasoned. "Now, what's the next rule?"

"The Elder Spirits themselves, we'd have to do unsavory things to get the missions done and end the war." Zuko started as he looked between Jin and Yue. "I think we should do whatever it takes to get information, get the job done, and keep ourselves alive. Whatever we do, we don't hold it against each other and we don't talk about it."

Both girls thought for a moment before agreeing.

"Well then, let's go," Zuko said as he pulled his hood over his head. "Kimiko, Taja."

* * *

Nearly an hour, the three champions were lying flat on the roof of a building facing the back of the brothel known as The Badger-Mole Lounge. It was a plain and dull looking large three-story building from the outside. The walls were earth, like all the other buildings in the Lower Ring, and the roof was dark green tiles. On the door of the building there was a simple sign that read, '_The Badger-Mole Lounge_'. The final noticeable attribute of the building were the red lanterns on the corners of the front of the building at the top of each landing.

"Who's the guy we're looking for Taja?" Lee asked in a hushed whisper.

"The guy we're looking for is, Gau-Loa," replied Taja. "He's a heavy set man of average height with a shaved head."

"I know this may be a bad time to ask, but what's a brothel?" Kimiko asked from between Lee and Taja.

The two champions snapped their heads so fast at their partner that their necks were heard popping.

"What?" Kimiko asked a little uncomfortably.

"You've got to be kidding me," Taja said with a sigh.

"Give her a brake Taja," Lee told his girlfriend. He then turned back to Kimiko and said, "A brothel is a place, were people will go to pay and have sex."

"What?" Kimiko whispered loudly. "Why would anyone want to do something so… so vulgar?"

"It's not vulgar. It's actually quite the respectable business." Lee replied. "Aren't their any Red Districts in the Northern Water Tribe? I know that it's big enough for at least three."

"No, there's nothing of the sort there," she answered. "What group of people would go to such a place?"

"Well, I can't speak for the Earth Kingdom, but in the Fire Nation several different types go; singles, soldiers on leave, and the most common would be couples."

"Couples?" This time it was both Yue and Jin who asked.

"You know; man and woman, man and man, woman and woman, man and woman and man, woman and man and woman, woman and woman and man and man. Really it just depends on what the person buying the sex wants. I know that in the Imperial City there are five brothels; two with woman only, two with men only, and one that specializes in couples."

'_And this is the nation that decided to start a war with the other nations?_' Kimiko thought to herself in a dumbfounded tone.

"Hey, if you two idiots are done talking, you'd see that Gau-Loa has just made our job easier tonight," Taja snapped.

Lee and Kimiko looked down at the back door of the brothel to see a large bald man step out.

"That's him?" Lee asked for confirmation.

"Yep," replied Taja before asking, "What is he doing?"

The three watched as he took out a small bag and poured a dark blue powdery substance from it, into his hand.

"Shit," Lee whispered harshly as he thrust out his arm and used his heatbending to rise Gau-Loa's body temperature and caused him to pass out.

"What did you do?" Kimiko asked.

"It looked like he was about to take some drugs, so I used my heatbending to knock him out." Lee replied. "Now come on." He then jumped off the roof and went up to the fallen form of Gau-Loa.

As Kimiko and Taja caught up to their partner they head Lee say, "I was right."

"What is it, Lee?" Taja asked.

"This is dried grind-up petals from a Blue Bell flower."

"How do you know that?" Kimiko inquired.

"Because in the Fire Nation, this is highly illegal. The petals of the Blue Bell make a powerful calming tea when the petals are freshly picked. However, if you let the petals dry out, the effects become much stronger. In non-benders it causes powerful hallucinations, but it will cause benders to go insane. Because of that, it became one of thirteen irrefutable laws in the Fire Nation that if anyone was caught with this they would be sentenced to fifteen years at the Boiling Rock." Lee explained. "Now come on, let's get to questioning him."

Looking up, Lee saw that there was a darkened room on the third story. "Can one of you bring him up with your bending?" he asked.

"I can," Taja repled.

"Then follow me." Lee said as he climbed up the side of the building.

* * *

Gau-Loa was a man of many things, but if had to be summed into a single word it would be, greedy. He loved money and would do anything to get it. Even play on the feeling of a woman, who owned a brothel, before taking it out from under her and leaving her with nothing but a quick death; that occurred _mysteriously_. This was several years ago, so there was no need to feel guilty. Not that there ever was much guilt.

Over the years, he had expanded the business from four girls in a small single story building in Ba Sing Se's Red District Five to twelve girls in a large three-story twenty-one bedroom/seven bathroom building with a large kitchen, lobby, and basement. He had spared no expense on the building or the girls; literally. In the three years of being in the building, Gau-Loa spent as little as possible. There were no new bedding and sheets for the girls or even medical visits for them. The building was in need of a few minor repairs, but as long as it wasn't falling down on him; why bother spending money on it? Thanks to those practices, the girls had been able to amass him a good sized fortune. However it wasn't enough. There was never enough money.

Then, a year ago, he had been approached about entering into the drug trade. It started simple enough, a guy would come once a week and drop off a box. Two days later, a woman would come to pick up the box. For his help, he was paid a hundred and twenty-five gold pieces a week and one pint of the product. This worked well for a while, but soon the boxes grew in number. But so did the payments. One of the girls caught on and said he'd regret it, if he didn't stop. He beat her for that, he would never regret anything.

So, it came as a great surprise when he was awoken with a blast of cold water to his face and found himself tied up with three hooded figures standing in front of him. There were two obvious females, given the size of there chests, in black and green and black and blue. The final figure, standing directly in front of him was wearing black and red and must have been male.

"Gau-Loa, we need to have a talk," the figure in red said in a hard voice. "And you will tell us what we want to know."

"Or what?" he replied with a sneer.

"Oh you'll find out." Was the only answer he was given.

* * *

Lee sat in a chair in the corner. For the past several minutes, Taja and Kimiko had been trying to get Gau-Loa to spill the information on who his provider was. The only problem was that the man wasn't budging and Lee was getting sick of it. With an over exaggerated groan he stood up and walked over to Gau-Loa. Without flinching, Lee struck; delivering a crushing left hook to Gau-Loa's right cheek with enough force to toss him out of the chair they had him sitting in.

"This has been fun and all, but now it's time to end the games." Lee said as he walked over to the fallen man. He turned him over with the toe of his boot and then asked, "Will you tell me who your supplier is?"

"Fuck you, you piece of shit," replied Gau-Loa.

"Fine then." Lee then turned to his partners and said, "Get the girls into the main lobby. If they are entertaining anyone, remove them."

With one final glance at Lee, Kimiko and Taja exited the room. Lee then went over the dresser and begin to search through it vigorously.

"What are you doing?" Gau-Loa asked in a tone that showed he thought Lee was being stupid.

"You aren't a very smart man are you, Gau-Loa?" Lee asked, simply ignoring the man's question. "If you were you'd notice that we're in a woman's room."

Glancing around it was obvious to see that it was a room for one of the girls.

"Women are strange sometimes in there pursuit of a man's attention." Lee continued as he found what he was looking for. "They'll use such dangerous things just to smell more appealing to him; like oils for instance," Lee said as he turned around with three small bottles of oil in his hand. Walking back over to Gau-Loa, Lee uncapped the bottles and poured them down on him.

"So, what? Are you wanting me to smell good for you?" Gau-Loa asked sarcastically.

"Oh no, Gau-Loa," replied Lee before igniting a fire in the palm of his hand.

Upon seeing the fire, Gau-Loa began to feel a twinge of fear.

"I don't want you to smell good for me. I want you to _burn_, for me," Lee clarified.

Gau-Loa's eyes widened in fear. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM YOU PIECE OF SHIT? I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS! WHEN I'M THROUGH WITH YOU, YOU'LL WISH YOU HAD NEVER BEEN BORN!" He roared.

"To late," Lee replied before dropping the flame.

As soon as the flame struck it ignited all over Gau-Loa's body, that had the oil dripped on to it. He screamed in agony, but soon the screaming stopped; for the dead do not scream.

* * *

Ling was a dark-skinned female of an impressive height and an equally impressive bust. When she was younger she had been sold, due to her father's depts. At times it was nice, but more often then not it was unpleasant being a prostitute. At least the woman who had bought her had been nice. That was until; Gau-Loa had come and taking everything from her mistress. Since then, it had been a nightmare. Every night, Ling would pray to the spirits to end Gau-Loa. And it seemed that tonight, her prayers might finally be answered.

For tonight as she prayed, her prayers were interrupted by a black and green hooded figure telling her to get her ass down to the bottom floor. When she didn't move, Ling suddenly found herself moving and not under her own power. Soon she found herself in the lobby of the brothel with the other girls and the two men that two of the other girls had been with were removed after a second hooded figure, in black and blue, had erased their memories.

Suddenly, screaming could be heard coming from up above. It was the sound of a man's voice in complete agony. As the oldest at twenty-one, some of the younger girls huddled around her. Soon the screaming stopped and quickly after that movement could be heard upstairs. The movement grew louder and louder as it came closer to them. Once the person had arrived at the top of the staircase landing for the first floor, he threw down what he had been hauling down.

It was a body. A dead burned body. It was Gau-Loa's dead burned body. Ling along with nearly all the other girls screamed. Ling screamed for the fact that it was a dead body and not because Gau-Loa was dead.

"Silence," the figure said as he walked down the stairs. He was much shorter than Ling and dressed similarly to the other two hooded figures, but in black and red. He looked at each of the girls before speaking once again. "Gau-Loa was in the business of smuggling drugs. We want to know who his supplier is and he didn't feel like telling us. This is what happed to him," pointing to the body. "So, I'll ask you nice girls and I hope one of you will answer. Who is his supplier?"

Ling slowly raised her hand. She felt fear fill her as the three hooded figures looked at her. "I know." She said.

"Who is it?" The black and red figure asked.

"I only know of one person involved in it, a low ranking Dai Li agent by the name of, Guam."

"That's everything?" the figure asked.

"Well, there is one more thing, but it has nothing to do with the drugs." Seeing the figure motioning for her to continue, Ling spoke once again, "There's a rumor going around that the Dai Li have been having a problem with a killer. For the past twenty-five years there have brutal murders all through out the city and they've yet to catch the one responsible for them. Mostly because no one can catch him. Only one witness has seen the killer and that's Roga; who said that the killer had strange glowing yellow eyes."

The three figures tensed for a moment before relaxing once again. "Where can we find, Roga?" the black and blue figure asked.

"You can't. He committed suicide three years ago," replied Ling.

"Thank you for your help. You girls have a pleasant evening." The red and black figure said. He then picked up Gau-Loa's dead body and began to head for the door along with the others.

"Wait! What about us?" Ling asked.

The black and red hooded turned back and asked, "What about you all?"

"The rules of Ba Sing Se are very clear. You killed our previous owner, so now we belong to you." Ling answered. "What are you going to do with us?"

"I'm going to do nothing. I don't own you." The male figure replied. He then pointed to the busty black and green hood figure and said, "She's the one who owns you now."

"What?" several of the girls, and the black and green figure, cried out.

Suddenly fire appeared in the figure's free hand. This silenced everyone. In a hard voice he said, "She owns you. End of discussion. Or, would you like to argue with me; like Gau-Loa did?"

A split second later and all twelve girls were kneeling in front of the black and green clothed female.

"What are you going to do with us?" Ling asked again.

The figure looked at them, looked at her partner, and then looked back at them, before replying. "I guess I have no choice, but to continue this business; however some changes need to be made. I want you to remove the lanterns, as the shop is now closed. I'll come by early tomorrow morning to familiarize myself with everyone and work on remodeling the building."

"How will we know who you are?" Ling asked.

The figure lifted up her hand and pulled her hood down, revealing her sun kissed tanned face and dazzling green eyes to them. "Call me, Taja."

"We await your arrival tomorrow Mistress Taja," Ling said as Taja placed her hood back on and left with her partners.

* * *

An hour and a half later, after having disposed of Gau-Loa's body, Zuko, Jin, and Yue sat atop a large clock tower, gazing up at the stars as they each slowly sipped a drink from a near by brewery that they called, Caffè.

"Well, are you going to say anything?" Zuko asked breaking the silence.

"What the hell were you thinking when you put me as a Mistress of a brothel?" Jin asked a little angrily.

"I was thinking of what was best for them and us." Zuko replied.

"How was that, best for anyone?" Jin asked.

"They need someone to be their owner. If word got out that their was a brothel with no owner, the place would be ripped apart. Also, the fact that it would be better to have a woman as the owner; given the previous owner's actions. Plus, this is your city and they're apart of this city," explained Zuko.

"So, what part of that is good for us?" Yue asked.

"This will help us build up a reputation. Plus, I don't know if either of you caught it, but we're supposed to end this war. To do that we can't stay in Ba Sing Se. Sooner or later we will have to leave and we will be needing plenty of money when we leave. This will help us in that." Lee replied.

"So, you want to use them and then leave them; is that it?" Jin asked.

"I never said that," snapped Zuko. "We can take them with us."

"How?" Yue asked.

"I don't know, but something will come up," he replied with a shrug. "Besides, they'll also be a great way to gather information."

"What makes you say that?" Jin asked.

"Because no man anywhere can keep his mouth shut around a woman of pleasure," Zuko replied with a snort.

Yue then asked, "Were you really going to harm those girls?"

"No, just had to make it seem that way," replied Zuko.

They then fell silent for several minutes, until Jin asked a question. "That old guy at Pao's Family Tea House, 'Mushi'. Is he really your uncle, Zuko?"

"Yes, that's my uncle Iroh. He is more commonly known as retired general _Dragon of the West_ Prince Iroh." Zuko answered.

"Wait a minute, general Iroh is here?" Yue asked, wide-eyed.

"_Retired general_ and yes, he's here. I'm here so of course he'll be here."

"So, he's your mother's uncle?" Jin asked.

"No, he's my father's older brother." Zuko corrected.

Yue and Jin fell silent as they pondered the effects of such a powerful firebender being in the city.

"So, what's up with your family, Jin?" Zuko asked.

"Whoa, whoa, hot stuff. We just got back together and you're taking shots at my family?" Jin asked.

"I'm not meaning to be rude Jin, but you said you were the only bender in your family and you're not." Zuko replied. "Three members of your family are firebenders."

Jin launched forward and grabbed her boyfriend's head into a head lock. "I can prove it." Zuko gasped out.

Releasing him Jin asked, "How?"

"I have a firebending technique that let's me see everything around me based on it's heat. Firebenders have a naturally higher body temperature then others. Also, if you place a candle next to a sleeping firebender, the candle will get brighter."

"Are you sure three members of my family are firebenders?" Jin asked.

"Positive." Zuko replied. "Three members on the second floor of your house are firebenders. And, they're short too."

Jin sighed softly to herself. There were only three members in her family, who were short at the moment; the family triplets. '_Maro, Kane, Zena,_' she thought fondly of her youngest siblings.

"What are we going to do about this suppose '_master killer_' and the Dai Li agent, Guam?" Yue asked.

"We'll need to find Guam first. From him, will find out more and be a step closer to this killer," replied Zuko after finishing his drink. "The only problem is how do we find a single Dai Li agent."

"There's a list." Jin replied. "A list of all the Dai Li agent's homes in the city. We get that list and we'll know where he lives."

"And just where is this list?" Yue asked.

"The Earth King's Palace," replied Jin in a deadpanned voice.

"Oh thank goodness! I was afraid it was going to be easy." Zuko commented overdramatically.

Unable to help herself, Jin started laughing and soon all three of them were laughing at the complete foolishness of life.

* * *

It was dark, so dark that it was nigh but impossible to see. And sad, despair filled the air so heavily that it was frozen. This, was the Varsealm; an infantine void of darkness.

"_Failed us, it did. Failed the scout has,_" spoke a shrill voice through the darkness.

"**It was inevitable of that one's failure. It was never able to control its hunger,**" replied a deep ragged voice. "**Besides, we have what we want.**"

"_Champions there are. Champions of the Elders._"

"**Yes, and they must be dealt with. Everyday they live they grow stronger.**"

"_Frees the Aku. Send the shape-shifter._"

"**NO! If we let lose Aku, we'll never hear the end of it. …Besides, if he does manage to kill the champions, we may not be able to reseal him.**"

"_Free Aku. Have champions kills him. Problem end._"

"**Then the champions would become stronger. What then?**"

"_Stronger they may become. After battle champions weak. Have pet kill them._"

"**And should they prove more resilient?**"

"_Pet over use stay its usefulness anyway. Better pet have we found._"

"**What 'pet' would this be?**"

"_Pet of four thousand years. Fire pet. Pet named Azula._"

Instead of replying, the second voice laughed. Laughed in glee at the destruction, that was to come. After four thousand years of waiting, they had finally found one of fire able to be their destroyer. A dark day would be coming once again.

* * *

Jin sighed as she walked to what was now, her brothel. It was early in the morning and all she wanted to do was crawl back into bed and pretend that nothing was different with her life. The sad fact was, her life had changed. After grabbing a book from the chamber's library the previous night, on running a brothel and the ownership changes that came with it, she headed home and tried Zuko's advice. Regrettably, Zuko had been right. Her three youngest siblings were firebenders. But how?

She knew that they were her siblings and her father was indeed their father. After all, a woman doesn't get that big during pregnancy and scream that much during labor, without knowing who her children are. Add to the fact, that her mother would sooner kill herself than cheat on her father and it was a sure bet that Koto was the father.

Could the situation with Kane, Maro, Zena be similar to her own situation? She was an Earthbender, and the greatest one at that, but there were no known Earthbeders in her family. So, could there have been some long lost relative, who was a Firebender? Sadly, there was no time to look into it. She, Zuko, and Yue had a drug peddling Dai Li agent and a mass murder to worry about; personally, she had this brothel to run, keeping it hidden from her mother, and helping the girls to worry about. It wasn't even light out yet and already she had gone to the title office to claim ownership of the 'Badger-Mole Lounge'. Since she had heard that Gau-Loa was a greedy man, she had gotten an upgrade form as well. If she was lucky, a change in status would brighten up the girls.

'_But that name has got to change,_' She thought to herself.

She soon walked into the brothel and using her Earthbending found were the girls where. As she entered the kitchen, were the twelve girls had been eating breakfast, they quickly scrambled to stand up.

"Sit down," Taja said loudly stopping them all in their movements.

"Are you sure?" asked a timid voice from one of the younger girls.

"I am, sure." Taja replied. "Ladies, I am not Gau-Loa. You have no need to fear me. I know given your previous owner, that that is going to be hard to do. But I do hope that you will be able to put your trust in me."

The twelve girls looked at each other and slowly sat back down.

Pulling out the papers, Taja spoke once again, "As this place is changing ownership, I am giving you this one chance to leave; should you so desire."

"You'd let us leave?" asked a more 'full-figured' girl.

"Right now, yes? I need to fill out the change in ownership, so I will need each of you to fill out one of these papers." Taja replied as she passed out the papers. "Any girl, who doesn't want to stay, may leave. However, to keep these place from being declared an owner-free brothel, the paper will need to be filed by six this afternoon. So, I'll need these papers back as soon as possible. Now who's staying?"

Every girl raised their hand.

"None of you want to leave?" Taja asked disbelievingly.

"We don't have anywhere else to go," replied Ling. "If we go out there will be tore apart. We know it's not much better in here, but at least we have each other."

"Well, now you have me." Taja told them.

"What can you do?" one of the girls asked in sarcastic tone.

Seeing a big metal pot by the sink, Taja turned to the girls and asked, "Are you finished with that pot for now?" Seeing them nod, she continued, "I can do this," With a hard stomp of her foot and a quick thrust of her hand; she crushed the pot down to the size of a tea cup. She then turned back to the gob smacked girls and said, in a voice that promised to bring pain, "I am the greatest Earthbender in existence. If anyone tries to fuck with my girls they will be in a new world of pain when I pull their bones out. Do I make myself, very clear?"

The girls nodded their heads vigorously at this.

Taja then smiled broadly and said, "Then I hope you'll be able to depend on me. Now, get those papers filled out, while Mistress Taja takes a look around." She then turned and walked quietly out of the room. As soon as she was gone, there was a mad scramble to start filling in the profile papers.

* * *

Taja spent twenty minutes quickly looking around at what needed to be fixed around the place. It was obvious that the girls needed new bedding and sheets. Several of the bathrooms needed to be fixed and the walls could stand to be bent back together where cracks were forming. It was obvious that Gau-Loa didn't want to spend any money on an Earthbender to come in and fix it.

As she walked back down stairs she noticed the tall black skinned girl, who had spoken last night, walk up to her with a stack of papers in her hands. "All of the paper work is finished Mistress," she said as she handed the papers to Taja.

"Thank you…" she began to say, but couldn't recall the girl's name.

"Ling, Mistress."

"Thank you very much, Ling. If any of the girls need me, I will be going over the profiles in the office. Also, we are closed for the day, so don't let anyone in," Taja instructed.

"Yes, Mistress."

Taja stepped into what used to be Gau-Loa's office and was now her office. The office was rather drab. The walls were bare and the only thing in the office was a mid-sized desk and large safe pushed into a corner. The safe stood a little taller than six feet, it had a width a little over two feet, and was slightly longer than three feet. So, it was a large safe.

Taja sat down at the desk and began to read over the profile papers. '_Now, let's see who my bitches are,_' She thought to herself.

_Name: Ling_

_Age: 21_

_Height: 6'8"_

_Skin Tone: Black_

_Hair Color: Blonde_

_Eye Color: Blue_

_Breast Size: FF_

_Specialty: Lactation_

_

* * *

Name: Piccola_

_Age: 14_

_Height: 5'3"_

_Skin Tone: White_

_Hair Color: Red_

_Eye Color: Green_

_Breast Size: B_

_Specialty: N/A_

_

* * *

Name: Ju-Li_

_Age: 16_

_Height: 5'8"_

_Skin Tone: Bronzed_

_Hair Color: Dark Brown_

_Eye Color: Blue_

_Breast Size: D_

_Specialty: Waterbender_

_

* * *

Name: Xi_

_Age: 14_

_Height: 5'5"_

_Skin Tone: Black_

_Hair Color: Black_

_Eye Color: Gold_

_Breast Size: DD_

_Specialty: N/A_

_

* * *

Name: Kin_

_Age: 18_

_Height: 6'_

_Skin Tone: White_

_Hair Color: Brown_

_Eye Color: Green_

_Breast Size: C_

_Specialty: Screamer_

_

* * *

Name: Yori_

_Age: 15_

_Height: 5'6"_

_Skin Tone: Bronzed_

_Hair Color: Black_

_Eye Color: Green (right eye) Blue (left eye)_

_Breast Size: E_

_Specialty: A member of the E sisters_

_Name: Pu_

_Age: 14_

_Height: 4'10"_

_Skin Tone: Bronzed_

_Hair Color: Dark Red_

_Eye Color: Grey_

_Breast Size: E_

_Specialty: Dancing_

_

* * *

Name: Ayame_

_Age: 20_

_Height: 5'10"_

_Skin Tone: White_

_Hair Color: Dark Brown with Natural Blonde highlights_

_Eye Color: Frosted Green (blind)  
_

_Breast Size: F_

_Specialty: Earthbender, Sees with Earthbending  
_

_

* * *

Name: Mar_

_Age: 17_

_Height: 5'9"_

_Skin Tone: Black_

_Hair Color: Black_

_Eye Color: Green_

_Breast Size: DD_

_Specialty: Lactation_

_

* * *

Name: Matoko_

_Age: 16_

_Height: 6'1"_

_Skin Tone: Ivory White_

_Hair Color: Black_

_Eye Color: Golden_

_Breast Size: C_

_Specialty: N/A_

_

* * *

Name: Tigger_

_Age: 15_

_Height: 5'3"_

_Skin Tone: Bronzed_

_Hair Color: Brown_

_Eye Color: Bright Green_

_Breast Size: E_

_Specialty: Earthbender, A member of the E sisters_

_

* * *

Name: Chan_

_Age: 15_

_Height: 5'6"_

_Skin Tone: Heavily Bronzed_

_Hair Color: Dark Brown_

_Eye Color: Dark Blue_

_Breast Size: E_

_Specialty: Waterbender, A member of the E sisters_

"Looks like I've got an interesting bunch of girls." Taja said aloud to herself.

She quickly located a quill and a bottle of ink and began to fill out the ownership papers. As Taja finished filling out the papers a couple of minutes later, she noticed a large key in the front drawer of the desk. She picked up the key and gave it a look over and then looked at the vault. Taja walked over to the vault and used the key to open it. Once the door was opened she was greeted by three columns of boxes, and each column had twenty-four boxes. She pulled out one of the boxes and was surprised by its weight. She was also surprised to see more boxes behind it; resulting in nine columns of boxes and each column holding twenty-four boxes. Each box was a foot long, three inches tall, and eight inches wide.

'_Why would Gau-Loa have two hundred and sixteen boxes in a vault like this?_' Taja thought to herself. It was then that she noticed that on the front of each box the number for one thousand was written out. '_A thousand? A thousand what?_'

She carefully took off the lid and her eyes widened at what she saw. The box was filled with a thousand gold pieces!

'_There's enough gold here to take care of my family for a year! And that fat son of a bitch was just hording it all to himself._' She thought angrily to herself. '_With each box holding a thousand gold pieces and there being two hundred and sixteen boxes… That bastard was hording two hundred and sixteen thousand gold pieces!_'

As she looked around the room in anger over Gau-Loa's greediness, Taja did a double take at the desk. There, slightly off to the side, were the upgrade papers she had grabbed on a whim. She looked at the gold, looked at the papers, looked at the gold, and as she looked back at the papers a smile formed on her lips. "Gau-Loa, get ready to roll in your grave you roasted, bastard," she said as she walked over to the desk and began filling out the papers to get her girls out of Lower Ring.

* * *

While their Mistress was looking over their profiles in her office, several of the girls were just sitting around the lobby. Since they were closed there wasn't much to do. Matoko had her long black her long black her tied back into a pony tail and was reading a story to Pu, who was sitting on her lap, about dancing. Chan, Tigger, and Yori, or the 'E sisters' as they called themselves, were sitting on the floor painting their nails with what limited colors were available to them. Which were green, light green, and dark green; such an array of choices.

"Hey Matoko, what do you think about our new Mistress?" Pu asked in her soft child-like voice that had yet to fade.

"I'm unsure at the moment," replied Matoko with her business like attitude. It was odd how Pu, was rambunctious and playfull, would adopt Matoko, who was strict and to the point, as her surrogate older sister. "Besides, I'm more concerned bout that Firebender showing back up."

"I thought he was handsome!" Pu piped up. This caused the four other girls to look at her in confusion.

"Pu, you couldn't even see his face. None of us could," Tigger reasoned, the others nodding in agreement.

"So! He's still handsome," the young girl shot back.

"He's a Firebender and Firebenders are monsters." Matoko said with distaste in her voice.

"But you're a Firebender too, Matoko." Pu said as she looked up from between her sister's breasts.

Matoko's eyes widened in horror; sure everyone at the brothel knew, but that didn't mean she liked having it talked about. "Hush up about that, Pu." She said in a snapped.

Before anymore could be said, they heard their Mistress's voice shouting, "Everyone to the lobby, now."

* * *

Taja looked around the room as the girls gathered into the lobby. Deciding to get right to the point, she spoke saying, "Ling and Ayame, please step forward."

Doing as was asked of them, the two step away from the other and towards their Mistress.

"As you all know, I was busy filling out the paper work to take over this place," Taja started. "What you may not know is that I was also filling out the paper work to upgrade our status. Ling, you will e coming with me to turn the paper work in. Ayame, you are in charge of the girls while I'm out. I want everyone to start packing. Any questions?"

A girl slightly older than she with a black skin tone and green eyes raised her hand.

"Yes…?"

"My name is Mar, Mistress. My question is, where are we upgrading to, Red District One or Red District Two?" The girl asked.

"We're upgrading to Ba Sing Se's Middle Ring Crimson District," replied Taja in complete seriousness.

The girls looked at their Mistress in shock, some with only widened eyes and others with their mouths handing open. Everyone knew about the Crimson District, as it was the only district in Ba Sing Se's Middle Ring that allowed brothels. In the Lower Ring the girls were knows as prostitutes, but in the Middle Ring they were referred to as courtesans. Sure, it was essentially the same thing, but a prostitute couldn't refuse a paying customer; where as a courtesan could. Prostitutes were not allowed to scilicet men on the street, but a courtesan could; provided it was only done in the Crimson District.

The thing that was shocking them was that no brothel had ever made such a large jump in power before. It took most brothels in Red District One three years to upgrade.

Taja smirked inwardly to herself. "Ling, lets go," she said as she turned to leave. "I expect everyone to be ready to go when we get back," Taja called over her shoulder as she and Ling walked through the door.

* * *

After a few minutes of walking, Ling asked, "Mstress, where are we going? This isn't the way to the business office."

"I know, but if we're to belong in the Middle Ring; we need to look like we belong in the Middle Ring. So, we're going shopping," Taja explained. "Now here, I want you to hold on to these." She said as she handed the papers to her.

"The papers, Mistress?"

"I want you to protect them and not lose them. I'll be protecting you. If anything happens to those papers, everything will have been for nothing, do you understand?"

Ling nodded her head in understanding. This was finally their chance to be something, and she wouldn't let anything happen to it.

"Plus, it's easier to Earthbend," Taja said, right before wrapping their feet in earth and having the earth swallow them.

"What was that?" Ling asked in a scared voice, once they had resurfaced.

"That was me earthending us to the other side of the Middle Ring," Replied Taja.

Ling id a double take when she heard, 'other side of the Middle Ring', as it took fifteen minutes by stone train and an hour and a half of good steady walking, if on foot. But they had only been underground for a few seconds. Looking around, she could tell it wasn't the Lower Ring. The streets were cleaner, the shops were more spread out, and there was actual grass here and there, unlike the Lower Ring were it's all just dirt and stone.

"Come on," Taja said as she dragged Ling to a nearby store.

* * *

Azula, Crown Princess of the Fire Nation looked over the scrolls that the guard had brought to her. "Is this everything?" She asked in a tone that promised pain if any information had been left out.

"Yes, Princess. That was all the information we could gain from them. It took some time, but everyone but their leader talked," replied the guard.

"I suppose this Suki, should be commended then," she said as she started to read over the information. "Send her to the Boiling Rock."

"I cannot do that Princess."

Azula stopped her reading and snapped her head directly at the guard. "And why not?"

"Orders from Fire Lord Ozai, Princess. All prisoners of war are to be sent to the Mount, no exceptions," replied the guard quickly.

"Fine. Now get out of my sight."

The guard quickly left and Azula continued her reading once more. As she read a plan began to form in her mind. Once she was done, she went to the aviary and sent word to her father by messenger hawk. She then left the aviary to find her friends, the bouncy acrobat Ty Lee and the knife throwing Mai; her two most loyal companions.

They would need to move quickly, as it was a long, long way to Ba Sing Se.

* * *

Ling eyes shifted nervously back and forth as she walked down the street, behind her young Mistress. It had only taken them a little over an hour and a half to get all of the shopping done. Now, they were walking down the street in new clothes, new shoes, and their hair styled. It wasn't anything overly fancy, but everyone on the street was given them second glances.

Ling herself had dark green slippers with silver stitching. She was wearing semi-transparent dark green pants that were baggy around her feet. Her top was a dark green bikini top with light green sequins sewn in. Tassels hung from the bikini top and at the end of each one was a small emerald. On each arm she wore silver armbands and silver wrist bands. Connecting the two bands together on each arm were two dark green cloths that would bellow out in the wind. The final piece of her outfit was a soft dark green transparent veil that covered her mouth.

Taja's outfit was just as elaborate and stunning. She was wearing a short open kimono with golden stitching. On the kimono there was a golden dragon sewn into it. She had on three inch wooden platform open-toed boots; that went up to her knees. The low cut of the kimono gave a perfect show of her legs and a full face of cleavage.

If it wasn't the clothes they were looking at, it may have been that her Mistress was walking down the street as though she owned the place. Or it could have been, the fact that Taja had decided to keep her money pouch between her breasts. Whatever the reason, people stared all the way until they got to the business office.

Instead of waiting for several hours, like most people would have to, Taja just flashed some gold pieces and before she knew it, she and Ling were sitting in the office of a prime locater waiting for him to show.

As they waited Ling glanced down at the papers and noticed an odd name. "Mistress, who is Jin?"

"That's me," replied Taja. "My real name is Jin."

"Why did you give us a fake name?"

"With what you saw me doing last night, I can't have anyone connect that back to my family."

"Oh," Ling replied softly. "What are you planning to do with us?"

"I plan to upgrade our status, right now. After that, everyone is going to the doctor; while I remodel our new place. I'll then have everyone go to a nearby tattoo parlor to mark each of you as mine."

"Are we still going to be called the Badger-Mole Lounge?" Ling asked in a slight wince. She had always hated that name.

"No. From now on, it's '_Taja's Playground_'." Replied Taja.

Before anymore could be said, the door opened revealing an older man who walked around to the desk and sat down. He had graying hair and a full beard. "Good morning, Mrs. Taja. I am Gwa-Po," he said in greeting. "Do you have your papers?"

Taja took the papers from Ling and handed them to Gwa-Po. Who spent several minutes looking over the papers before looking up and saying, "Well, everything looks in order, but I'm afraid I can't help you."

Taking what the man had said in stride, Taja simply leaned forward; resting her breasts on top of his desk and asked in an innocent voice, "Really? You can't help little old me?"

Beads of sweat began to form on the back of Gwa-Po's neck. "Nope, I'm sorry." He replied in a stutter.

"Even if it was made worth your while?" Taja asked as she traced patterns on her breasts. Seeing the blush on the man's cheeks, Taja began to pull her money pouch out from between her breast, moaning as she did so. Once the pouch was out, she sighed as though in ecstasy. Gently she tossed the bag of coins to him.

Gwa-Po, carefully opened the bag and peeked inside. His eyes widened at what he saw, there had to be nearly five hundred gold pieces in the bag. He quickly closed the bag and tucked it away in a drawer before looking back at the two women. "Something just opened up."

* * *

Twenty minutes later Taja and Ling were walking down the street and Taja was the proud new owner of a four story building in Ba Sing Se's Crimson District.

"I can't believe you were able to bribe him with gold, Mistress," Ling said as they walked down the street to get the girls. "I thought for a moment you were going to have sex with him."

"Oh please, if any man tries to have sex with me I'll snap his neck," replied Taja. "Besides, men are stupid. Just show them a little eye candy and they fall all over themselves."

"Have you had sex with a man before," Ling asked wondering if her Mistress had had a bad experience.

"Actually, I'm a virgin Ling," Taja replied in complete honesty.

"You're a virgin and yet you now own a brothel?"

"Yes. Is there something wrong with that?"

"No, it's just so rare."

After a few more minutes of walking, Ling asked, "Is it because you like girls?"

"WHAT?" Taja shrieked.

"The reason you havn't had sex with a guy, is it because you like girls?"

"I prefer both," Taja said with a blush. "However, I lean more towards guys. Also, I'm hoping to have found my _one_." She said with a sigh.

"Who?"

"The Firebender from last night, is the guy I'm dating."

"Him? Wasn't he going to attack us?" Ling asked shocked.

"No, he wasn't going to," replied Taja. That was mostly just for show."

Believing her Mistress, Ling shrugged and followed.

* * *

The room was dark and barren, all except for a lone shadowy figure. A dark mist slowly began to fill the room.

"**My pet, we have a mission for you.**" Spoke a deep rumpling voice.

"Yes… Master?" the figure asked.

"**The Elder's Champions are here in the city. Find them and end them.**" Spoke the voice.

"As you wish… my master." The figure replied as its eyes started to glow yellow.

**

* * *

Next Chapter: Level 26**

**I would like to thank FireChildSlytherrin5 for her help on the story. Especially, the idea for the brothel. ****I would like to clear something up, about the chapter. Yes, Jin now owns a brothel. Given from what we've seen of the Avatarverse society, it wouldn't be uncommon for a woman to work at or own a brothel. In fact, it used to be seen as a good thing for a woman to be a prostitute.**

**As always, if there are any questions please feel free to ask them.**

**I hope you will all leave me some reviews.**


	8. Level 26

**Spirits' Creed (formerly Spirit of Fire)**

**Chapter 8: Level 26**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender**

* * *

Three days had passed since his orders were given to him by his Masters. He had found the Elder's beloved Champions; it was easy enough as the three fools were just pulsing with spiritual energy. Now he was planning for their demise, but how to go about it? There were so many ways to kill them, to make them suffer.

He could crush them, snap their necks with but a movement; force them to kill each other, or even rip them apart.

…NO! None of it was good enough. They had to suffer completely.

Hmm, the Earth Champion… She is the one connected to this city. She has the most to lose. …She will suffer.

* * *

The sun beat down unforgivably on the barren wasteland like rain from a hurricane. For miles and miles in every direction there was nothing, but dried dead ground. Truly, the Varsealm is a desolate place. The only thing around was what looked to be a tall dried-up dying tree and a lone figure walking towards it.

The figure walking to the tree was tall, over seven feet. His skin was like ash, grey and dull. He was clothed in a pair of black pants and a simple black tunic.

Once he had arrived at the tree, he stood in front of it and spoke, "Aku, the Masters have a mission for you. Three of the Elders have chosen Champions to stop the war. You are to do as you're instructed and destroy them. Do you understand?"

No words were given. The only response was a low rumbling of the ground.

The sky grew dark and red as lightning flashed across the sky. Suddenly, a large streak of lightning struck the tree. The bark of the tree began to crumble and fall away. Soon a tall dark menacing figure of evil was standing where the tree had once been. He was unrealistically tall with a height of fourteen feet. His body was all black; it was impossible to even see what his feet looked like due to his body appearing as one large pillar. The only distinguishable features were the six horns coming out of his head, three on each side, and his eyes. His eyes were not like normal eyes; they were two balls of yellow fire.

He was Aku(1) the shape-shifter and he was now free after five thousand years of imprisonment.

It was time to have some fun.

Aku looked down at the Master's messenger with indifference. Without warning a black tendril shot out of Aku's body and stabbed the messenger through the chest. With the messenger still attached to the tendril, he summoned it back inside himself, absorbing the messenger as he did so. A moment later his body rippled, like a pool of water that had a rock thrown in, and a skull shot out from his body.

So, the Masters wanted him to be their obedient dog? Perhaps they had forgotten the imprisonment they had given him. '_I'll destroy these Champions, while destroying everything else along with them,_' the malevolent spirit thought to himself.

Aku's body than began to twist. It started at his head and continued; until the last of his body moved up into the air, it was like water swirling down a drain. For when the swirling was over, Aku was gone. The only evidence of anything having taking place was the fresh skull on the wasteland floor.

* * *

The air was calm and peaceful on the plain of the Elder Spirits in the Spirit World. Aoihi was enjoying her time reading. Kiirojimen, was meditating in the Eternal Falls room. Akaimizu, was enjoying a refreshing dip in one of the many fountains. Midorikaze, was conserving strength and resting in bed. Chi-chi, the Elder Spirit of Life, sat alone in her room. For the past several thousands of years, she had been lonely. While spirits don't marry, the Elder Spirits each had a companion, like the elements; fire to earth, and water to air. Even Yochi and Eien, the Elder Spirits of Space and Time, were partners. Chi-chi's own partner was Shu, the Elder Spirit of Death. Life and death co-existed side by side. For without death, there could be no new life.

Imagine a tyrant coming into power and being unable to kill him. The world would go out of balance. Ever since Shu had gone into the Varsealm, Chi-chi had been lonely, even though she had her fellow Elders with her. She knew he wasn't dead; though it was possible to kill an Elder Spirit, it was very hard to do. Plus, the backlash from such an act would have been felt everywhere. And so, Chi-chi sits alone in her room waiting.

Yochi was, like Kiirojimen, meditating in his room; feeling the passing of the Physical World.

Finally, there was Eien; the Elder Spirit of Time. Many who knew of her foolishly believed that she saw everything that had been, everything that was, and everything that will be. While she did see the future, Eien didn't see everything at happened. What she saw was the end of a journey and not the journey itself.

Eien was lounging by the Sensory Pool. The Sensory Pool was unlike many other pools. First, it wasn't meant for swimming in. And second, the surface of the pool moved depending on the amount of spiritual activity happening on the Physical World. Over the past several months the pool had been rippling more and more, indicating a vast increase of activity. Well, Eien enjoyed simple things, like watching the Sensory Pool ripple. Little did she know that today would be vastly different.

As she watched, Eien was startled as the pool suddenly stilled. This should never happen, due to the Avatar and benders. Less than a moment later the pool exploded.

Eien was thrown back with such force that she was bounced off of the tiled floor and landed in a heap on her stomach against the wall. '_What… what's happening?_' The spirit asked herself. Whatever was happening wasn't supposed to be happening. Shakily she stood back on toned purple legs, only to fall once again as she began screaming in pain.

Her cry was heard by the other Elders, who came rushing to her aid. The five remaining Elders gathered around her, trying to see what was wrong.

"Eien, Eien what happened?" Yochi asked her, gazing at her with his glowing white eyes.

Taking a moment to gasp for breath, she replied, "Aku, has been freed and is now in the Physical Word."

This statement caused every Elder to freeze in horror. Aku was the reason they had made contact with the Varsealm; when the vile spirit sought the destruction of the Spirit World. Aku is what led the Masters of the Varsealm to corrupt the Avatar. The Avatar was only a child and had no defense against their manipulations and became insane. That led to half of the Fire Nation being blown up! The child's reason for doing it was that the exploding islands looked pretty and people sounded funny when they died. The Elders were forced to choose a champion to destroy the Avatar and remove the corrupt soul from the Avatar Line. New rules for the Avatar were placed, that they wouldn't know they were the Avatar until they were sixteen years old. Aku was to never be freed. To do so would disrupt time itself.

Chi-chi turned to the three Elder Elemental Spirits and asked, "Will your champions be enough for that monster?"

"They had better be," Aoihi replied grimly. "They're all we have."

* * *

Much had happened to Jin in the past few days. She learned that her boyfriend's name wasn't Lee, but rather Zuko. And, he wasn't just any Zuko, but Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation! Not only was he a prince, but also the Champion of Fire. Needless to say, Jin wasn't overly happy with Zuko when she learned about these things. However, they had reconciled and were back to enjoying being with each other. She also learned that the Champion of Water was the princess of the Northern Water Tribe and was named Yue.

The three of them had gone out on their first mission, to gather information on illegal activities that a brothel owner by the name of Gau-Loa. The night had ended with Gau-Loa dead, by Zuko's hand, and Jin the unexpected mistress of the brothel. At first, Jin didn't want to be the mistress. But once she had heard Zuko's reasons for making her the brothel's mistress and saw the depth of Gau-Loa's greed, she accepted it and took to it like a fish to water. In only a day, she had moved the brothel from a low standing in the Lower Ring to the very exclusive Crimson District of the Middle Ring.

The new building was much more spacious than the last one. Here, the building was four stories tall, with all the girls' personal rooms on the fourth floor. Each room was like a small apartment for the girls; there was a small kitchen, a shower, and a sink for each apartment. There were also two expanded bathrooms on the fourth floor; each of them able to handle five girls at any time.

The third floor was the most interesting part of the building, because of the simple fact that half of the floor was missing. It wasn't actually missing of course, half of the floor was actually a terrace that looked out from the front of the building and provided a great view of the streets in front of the building. There were several couches to lounge on and tables to sit at. The rest of the building was interesting because the rooms were large and _themed_. There was a barn theme, a throne room theme, a dungeon theme, and even a forest theme with dirt and trees in the room.

The second floor was rather plain, just rooms for bringing the clients to. The rooms were made to look nice enough with comfortable beds, colors of greens, blues, and blacks filled different rooms.

The main floor was all business. The main floor held Jin's office, a lobby to wait for service, a viewing room, a few bathrooms, the building's main kitchen, the kitchen pantry, wine room, and offices. Prices were listed in the lobby as well as a stern warning to anyone who tried to take more than they were willing to pay.

The building hadn't looked anything like this when Jin first bought it. When she and Ling returned for the girls, each girl was given a three hundred and fifty gold piece allowance and told to buy themselves new bedding, furniture, work clothes, and relaxation clothes. While the girls went out shopping, Jin did some remodeling on the building; making it into what it is now. The finishing touch was the large sign on the building that read in gold lettering, '_Taja's Playground_'.

Their first night in the new building, Jin told them her real name. They basically held a small Q&A session, the girls learned about her and she learned about the girls. Which led to some interesting discussions…

**Flashback**

_The girls were chatting excitedly with one another as Taja walked into the dining room. So much had happened to them today; their new Mistress had shown impressive skills in Earthbending and came through for them in moving them to the Crimson District. The new building they were now in was large enough for them to have their own personal rooms. And, the greatest surprise of all, they had each been given a good amount of money to go shopping with._

"_Alright girls, calm down," Taja hollered over the talking. The girls quickly quieted down and looked at their Mistress. "I thought for our first night here, you could get to know me and I could get to know each of you."_

_The girls nodded at this and settled down making themselves comfy. Ling sat in the middle of one of the new large comfortable couches that dotted the lobby. On Ling's right sat Ayame and on her left sat Mar. Sitting at Ayame's right was Kin; and on Mar's Left was Xi. Piccola sat comfortably on Ling's lap._

_Yori, Tigger, and Chan were lying down on their stomachs on the wonderful plush rug. Matoko, had also opted to sit on the floor; and Pu choose to sit in Matoko's lap. Finally, there was Ju-Li, who reclined comfortably on the chaise longue that was positioned to the right of the couch._

_In front of them, Taja sat in a large single chair. Resting her arms on the chair's armrests she looked at each of them before speaking, "Who would like to go first?"_

_Ju-Li casually raised her hand. After being signaled by her Mistress to speak, she asked, "Why did you agree to become our Mistress?"_

"_At first, I didn't want to be," Taja replied honestly. "But then, after talking with my partner, I realized that if I didn't, word would soon spread about the brothel being without an owner. Once that happened, the place would have been ripped apart. Just because you sell your bodies doesn't mean that you should be treated any less than any one else."_

_Xi raised her hand next. "Why didn't that Firebender want to become our Master?" She asked_

"_He saw that you were all afraid, and didn't want you to be afraid. So, he gave the position to me as he thought that you would respond better to a fellow citizen of Ba Sing Se and a woman than you would to a man," Taja replied._

_Kin was next in asking her question. "Why were you and others there, last night?"_

_Taja sighed for a moment, before replying. "We are all from the Lower Ring. So, we know about the war going on outside of Ba Sing Se, correct?" At seeing the girls nod, she continued. "I am a part of the events of that war. My partners and I, out of all of the Firebenders, Waterbenders, and Earthbenders, were chosen by the Elder Spirits themselves to end the war. Along with ending the war, we were tasked with removing the Dai Li from their position of power. Our first step in removing the Dai Li was here. We wanted to get information from Gau-Loa. Unfortunately, he decided not to give it up."_

_Matoko was next in asking a question, "Will the Firebender be returning?"_

"_Yes," Taja replied simply, before quickly deciding that she had better be more through in answer. "I noticed on the forms that several of you are Waterbenders and Earthbenders; I'm also not stupid enough to believe that not one, of the remaining eight of you, isn't a Firebender. So, who's a Firebender?"_

_Matoko and Yori timidly raised their hands, as though they were afraid of admitting to being Firebenders to their Mistress._

"_We will be training the benders in their style of bending, as well as giving everyone weapons training," Taja finished saying._

_Almost immediately, Yori, Tigger, and Chan's hands shot into the air._

"_Um, …Yes?" Taja asked them, surprised at their enthusiasm._

_As one, the three girls asked their question. "Can we have sex with your Firebender friend, Mistress?"_

_Taja's eyes widened considerably in surprise, she certainly hadn't been expecting that kind of question. "Why?" She asked them._

"_Well, we've been looking for a guy for the three of us to enjoy together." Tigger began._

"_So far, we've done it with non-benders, Waterbenders, and Earthbenders and none of them have been able to fully satisfy us," continued Chan._

"_However, we heard a rumor that Firebenders have great stamina and we would like to try it out with him." Yori said, finishing their explanation._

_Taja stared at them for a moment before replying in a deadpanned voice, "No."_

"_Aww… Why not?" Tigger whined as she hated being denied what she loved most._

"_Two words girls, He's mine." Taja answered with a bit of force._

"_Will you please share him with us?" Chan asked her Mistress hopefully._

_Taja was surprised by this question. 'It's not like I know what he wants, maybe he would be into this sort of thing,' thought Taja before replying, with a soft blush on her cheeks, "Maybe, but don't bug me about it."_

_Ayame raised her hand, next. "Mistress, why would we need to be trained?"_

_Taja let out a sad sigh and replied, "We are not just facing the Fire Nation or the Dai Li. There is a third enemy, who is more powerful than the Avatar himself, more terrifying than the armies of the Fire Nation, and more silent then the Dai Li. If I don't see to it that you are all trained and this enemy finds any of you, you will die."_

"_Who is this enemy which you speak of Mistress?" Mar asked. Mar always enjoyed a good fight, but hearing about an enemy worse than the Fire Nation and Dai Li was something else._

"_The enemy is from the Spirit word," Taja began. "They are faceless, without identity. The Spirit World is much more complex than most people know, including the Avatar. Just as there as places of warmth and light in the Spirit World, there are also places of coldness and darkness. The darkest and most evil of all places is a realm called the Varsealm. It is from there that the servants of the realm's masters are coming over to the Physical World to make sure the war doesn't end. The more strife, hatred, and war there is, the stronger the Varsealm becomes. If the war doesn't stop, everything will be consumed by the Varsealm and be destroyed."_

_Everyone was somber and silent as Taja finished speaking; none of them had expected that their world could end. It was indeed a chilling thought to most of the older girls. The somber moment was quickly ruined as Pu asked her question._

"_Mistress, how large are your breasts?" Pu asked in her child-like voice of wonder._

"_Why would you want to know that?" Taja nearly yelled, her face bright red with a blush. She really hadn't been expecting a question like that. The girls themselves looked at Pu as though she was half crazy._

"_Because, Ling, has always had the largest breasts of any girl here and any woman who came in for service. Then you suddenly appear and your boobs completely eclipse hers in size." Pu explained as though it was the most obvious thing in the world._

'Damn, Pu and her obsession with breasts,_' Ling thought angrily to herself. She had known it would only be a matter of time, until Pu asked their Mistress that, but she had hoped that a week or so would have passed. '_I wonder if it would be considered overly mean of me to hit her?'

'I don't know if I should be flattered or pissed,_' Taja thought to herself embarrassingly. '_If it was Zuko, I'd be flattered._' Taking a moment to calm herself, Taja looked a Pu and replied, "Not that it's any of your business Pu, but I'm an H(_2)_."_

_Several girls let out a gasp of surprise, while Pu looked awestruck at her Mistress._

_Addressing all of the girls this time, Taja asked, "Anything else?"_

"_Mistress, you said that you've been tasked with ending the war," Ling began. "It seems fairly obvious that you're going to have to leave Ba Sing Se at some point. When that happens, what will happen to us?"_

_All of the girls looked at Taja expectantly. Without her as their Mistress, they would be defenseless. They could be sold into slavery, for drugs, or even, if fate was truly cruel, for breeding._

"_When that time comes, all of you will be coming with me. Just like my family," replied Taja her voice full of authority. "Now it's getting late and we have a busy day tomorrow, so everyone should head for bed."_

_The girls slowly climbed the stairs to their personal rooms, to enjoy their first night's sleep in their new beds and building._

**End Flashback**

The next day the girls were taken out to see the doctor. Each girl was surprisingly given a clean bill of health. Afterwards, they went to a nearby tattoo parlor to be marked as Jin's. Now, each girl had a bright red tattoo on her body saying, '_Property of Jin_'. After they received their tattoo, Jin allowed the girls to get anything extra they might want; as long as they had the money for it. Several of the girls opted to get tattoos and piercings. With only four thousand eight hundred gold pieces being spent, Jin still had an impressive fortune of two hundred and eleven thousand two hundred gold pieces left.

That afternoon, the girls decorated their personal rooms and the work rooms. Jin had the new red lanterns prepared for hanging. The new lanterns were three feet tall each and bore the brothel's name in emerald against the red paper of the lantern.

On the third day, the girls started work. While Jin went to her job at Madame Xao's Formal Dresses for All Occasions, the girls, minus Ling, went out to start building up a clientele. Ling stayed at the building, cleaning up after breakfast and preparing the clientele list. At two that afternoon, they began servicing. However, their Mistress wouldn't be joining them for their opening night as she had an important mission with her comrades.

* * *

As quietly as humanly possible the Champions trekked through the corridors of the Earth King's Palace. Getting in had been easy. All the guards were positioned outside, so all they had to do was come up from deep enough underground.

'_I can't believe there aren't any guards here,_' Lee thought as he steadily walked from room to room. '_Back home, there were at least two guards in every hallway, unless it was the living area of the royal family._'

"Taja, any idea where this list is kept in the Palace?" Lee asked the Earth Kingdom native.

"It's supposed to be in the office of a man named Long Feng. He is the head of the Dai Li." Taja replied.

"Any idea where this office is?" Kimiko asked as she was getting tired of searching through the rooms.

"How should I know?" Taja asked. "I've never even been to the Upper Ring, until tonight."

"How come?" Lee asked as he checked around a corner.

"The Upper Ring is very picky about who is allowed in and who isn't," Taja replied. "They also look down on anyone who is beneath them."

At that moment, the three of them froze as they heard the opening and closing of a door; quickly followed by the shuffling of feet. From between two of the corridor's ornament pillars emerged a Palace guard.

'_Please don't let him look over here,_' Lee mentally pleaded.

Sadly, the Mistress of Luck was not with Lee at the moment; for the guard turned his head directly at them.

'_Shit,_' thought Lee as he bolted forward.

The guard's wits quickly returned as Lee was rushing him. However, it was already too late. As the guard turned to rush back into the room he had just left, Lee jumped. He ricocheted himself off the pillars on his right and jumped towards the wall on the other side, going past the pillars on the left side of the corridor. Lee then turned himself to intercept the guard. Just as the guard's fingers were mere inches from the door, Lee struck. In mid-air, Lee spun his body around and delivered a devastating backwards roundhouse heel spin kick to the guard's throat. Needless to say, the guard was sent flying back and landed in the middle of the corridor as Taja and Kimiko came running up.

"Shit," Kimiko whispered bitterly as she ran towards the fallen guard, who was slowly starting to change color.

"What's wrong?" Lee asked as he walked over to them.

"Your kick crushed his windpipe. He can't breathe!" Kimiko explained.

"I was trying to aim for his head, to knock him out." Lee replied. "I wasn't trying to kill him."

Using her bloodbending, Kimiko forced the man's windpipe to correct its self. She then held it there as she began to heal him. Moments later, the guard's throat was completely healed and there wasn't any sign of bruising of his throat. As a precaution, Kimiko moved her water over the man's skull and carefully bent the movement of his mind. It wouldn't erase the guard's feeling of something being off, but it would ensure that he never knew about the three trespassers in the Earth King's Palace.

"Let's see what was in this room, that he was trying to get back into," Lee whispered as Taja leaned the guard against the wall far from the door.

The three Champions stood in front of the door, together, as Lee pushed the door open. It took less than a moment in time for the three champions to realize what the room was. It was a bedroom. An occupied bedroom, whose occupant was standing just a few feet in front of them.

The occupier of the room was a woman. She was of average height, five feet seven inches, maybe a little taller. Her skin was lightly tanned and her hair long and black. Her beautiful brown eyes were wide with surprise that was quickly changing to fear. For in her room, before her, were three masked and armed strangers; while all she had was the silk nightgown she was wearing.

Before the woman could scream, or Lee accidently kick her, Taja and Kimiko both used their bonebending and bloodbending to keep the woman's mouth from opening. The three of them quickly moved in and closed the door behind them. Once the door was closed, Lee was the first to speak.

"Madame, we are not here to hurt you."

This, sadly, did not seem to convince the woman.

"Perhaps a gesture of good faith will convince you that we are not here to hurt you," Lee continued. "We are going to release you and trust you not to scream. Do you understand?"

The woman gave a quick nod of her head.

Seeing the woman nod, Taja and Kimiko released their bending hold on her mouth.

With her mouth free, the woman opened her mouth to make sure that her mouth was under her own control. Seeing that her jaw was her own again, she looked at the three intruders and in a scared voice asked, "Who are you?"

"We are the Champions of the Elder Spirits Aoihi, Akaimizu, and Kiirojimen," Kimiko explained, she then gently asked, "Who are you?"

"I am Macmu-Ling(3). The Earth King's fiancée," she replied. "Are you here to assassinate Kuei?"

Lee glanced at Kimiko and then at Taja, to see if the name meant anything to them. "We are here searching for the List of Dai Li agents," he replied. "Who is Kuei and why do you think we would kill him?"

"Kuei is the Earth King," Macmu-Ling replied. "I thought the spirits had become angry due to his ignorance about what is happening in the world."

"You're talking about the war, right?" Taja asked. At seeing the woman nod, Taja asked in a surprised voice, "How can the King not know?"

"Kuei became the Earth King at a very young age and has never left the Palace. The Grand Secretariat, Long Feng, and the Dai Li keep all mention of the war from ever reaching him. Any time I'm with him, there is always one of the agents present to make sure that nothing is said."

"We're here to change that. Will you help us?" Lee asked.

"Yes, I will do anything to get Ba Sing Se and Kuei out from under the control of Long Feng," Macmu-Ling replied firmly.

"We are searching for Long Feng's office to find the list of the Dai Li agents. With that list, we will know the location of their forces and be better prepared to take them down." Kimiko informed the Earth King's fiancée.

Macmu-Ling quickly told them were Long Feng's office was, which was surprisingly on the other side of the Palace.

Before leaving, Lee turned back and said, "You know, we could use an insider on activities happening in the Palace. Could you help us?"

"You want me to spy on Kuei for you?" Mucmu-Ling asked in mild shock.

"No. We want you to spy on Long Feng and his Dai Li," Lee corrected her. "We want to know if they are getting too _close_ the Earth King. Is there any way for us to contact you?"

She thought for a moment before replying, "My school in the Upper Ring. You can contact me there eight nights a week; the school is closed every Protosday(4)."

The three champions bowed their heads and quietly left the room.

* * *

He sat silently in his room as he waited for his Masters' help to arrive.

The wait wasn't long as the air began to shimmer. A dark figure began to materialize in front of him. In a matter of seconds it was over.

"Aku," he said, as a statement and not a question.

"Yes," the ancient spirit of evil replied. "You are the new pet?"

He replied by silently nodding his head. Then with no movement at all, he earthbent a large spear of earth from the wall, directly behind Aku.

Just as the tip of the spear was a hair's width from striking the back of Aku, the shape-shifting spirit opened his body like a doughnut cake; allowing the spear to pass harmlessly through him. The spirit looked at the Earthbender and laughed. It was difficult to know what the spirit was laughing at; the failed attack or that the crazed bender thought he could kil, Aku.

Not seeming to care that he had attacked his supposed ally, the man turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" Aku asked in a growl. No human would dare ignore him.

"Out," the man replied. He then shut the door and began to head for Madame Xoa's Formal Dresses for All Occasions; as his bait would soon be leaving.

* * *

Maki silently walked down the empty Middle Ring street as she headed to her house, behind her sister's brothel. Madame Xao had kept her over to finish the sewing on a special order; so none of the shops were open as Maki made her way in the dead of night. Maki didn't mind that it was night, as she preferred the night over day.

Maki was completely oblivious to the danger she was in as a figure with lightly glowing yellow eyes stalked her.

* * *

Lee, Taja, and Kimiko gazed in wonder at the size of Long Feng's office. It was quite possibly the largest office, in terms of size, that any of them had ever seen.

"Well, this is just great," Kimiko commented sarcastically. "His office just had to be the fucking Palace Library."

"Come on. Let's start looking for that list," Lee said.

The three Champions split up and began searching carefully throughout the library. Finally, after an hour of searching, they had found the list. However, they were perplexed at what they saw inside. Several names of Dai Li agents had been crossed off and some held different phrases under them in red; like '_drugs_', '_breeding_', '_gambling_', and '_murder_'.

Being the fastest writer of the three, Taja pulled out a small scroll and began to copy the names of Dai Li agents not crossed off. As she worked, Lee asked a question from behind her.

"Do you know what any of those red word phrases mean?"

"It's probably, reference to why some of the agents are on suspension. They've killed someone, did some illegal gambling, and/or took some drugs," Taja replied.

"What about that one? Breeding(5)?" Kimiko asked, seeing that Taja had left it out.

"That's not suspension," the Earthbender replied. "They're off to ensure the future generation of strong Earthbenders."

"How?" Lee asked; the breeding phrase was starting to raise some alarms in the back of the Prince's mind. The only way you had a future generation of benders was through reproductive sex. Breeding is what was done for the animals.

"In Ba Sing Se's Fifth Red District, many of the brothels are actually breeding houses," Taja began to explain. "Powerful male Earthbenders, mostly Dai Li, will go to these houses to impregnate the young fertile women, who are shackled up in the various rooms of the building. Once the woman gives birth any girls are killed, as they are not needed for the army, and any boys are raised in the Army orphanage; where in due time they will be trained and join the army to replenish lost soldiers."

"So, what you're saying is that these women are forcibly _raped_?" Lee asked his voice full of rage.

"Yes," Taja replied in a deadpanned voice. This wasn't a shining moment for the city. In fact, many people hated the breeding houses, but anyone who spoke against them was made into an example, publicly. "The breeding houses came into existence not long after Long Feng became the head of the Dai Li, some twenty-five years ago. And, before you ask, no, the King doesn't know about these breeding houses. If he doesn't know about the war, he doesn't know about this." As she finished speaking, Taja also finished copying the list.

As Taja went to put the list back, Lee commented allowed, "And they call the Fire Nation evil."

"Well, your nation did declare war on the rest of the world," replied Kimiko.

Before the waterbender could even take her next breath, she suddenly found her throat facing the _very sharp_ end of Lee's Dao Swords.

"I'm not saying my nation is perfect. In fact, they aren't. They've fucked a lot of shit up and it's going to take a long time to make up for it," Lee growled out. "However, we don't rape women to supply our forces with soldiers. Understand?"

Kimiko slowly and carefully nodded her head.

Seeing his partner nod, Lee removed his blades from her throat and re-sheathed them.

"Everything alright?" Taja asked in a questioning voice at what she had seen.

"Everything's fine, Taja. Just a slight disagreement between comrades," Kimiko replied as Lee nodded.

"Then let's get out of here," the earthbender said and began to head for the door.

As the three walked to the door the door handle turned and the door opened, revealing a tall man with black hair and a small mustache, wearing very dark green robes with gold trim. This was starting to look very bad.

* * *

Long Feng, Grand Secretariat to Earth King and Head of the Dai Li, stared at the three hooded strangers in his office. He quickly came out of his shock and prepared to attack with his earthbending. However, he suddenly found himself unable to move.

"Who are you?" the hooded figure in black and blue asked in a woman's voice.

"I am Long Feng, Grand Secretariat of his majesty the Earth King," he replied evenly. "Now who are you?"

Instead of a reply, the figure in black and red turned to the last figure, who was in black and green, and asked, "So, this is the head of the Dai Li?"

Instead of replying vocally, the figure only nodded its head.

The figure in black and red turned back to face him and began walking closer. The hooded man stopped just a few inches from Long Feng.

"I ought to kill you," growled the hooded man, as he moved the cape on his left shoulder back revealing his hand on the handle of a sword. "But, I'll settle for this instead."

Without warning, Long Feng was hit with a powerful punch to the side of his head. As his world slowly turned black, due to slipping into unconsciousness, he felt his body being dropped.

* * *

After Lee had knocked Long Feng out, Kimiko stepped forward and uncorked her water skin. She carefully bent a hand full of water out and surrounded Long Feng's cranium with it. Her hand and the water began to glow a soft white as she worked on suppressing his memories. Once she was done, she put her water back into her water skin and Taja went to place him slumped over his desk. To make it appear, to Long Feng, that he had fallen asleep when he woke up.

"I was able to suppress his memories of us, but he will be suspicious," Kimiko said as Taja returned.

"What should we do?" Taja asked.

"For now, I would say we lay low," replied Kimiko. "We'll pay agent Guam a visit night after tomorrow."

Nodding their heads in agreement, Taja opened a hole in the floor and the three quickly jumped inside. Once all three were inside, the stone floor began to turn to its original shape. No one would ever believe that it had been earthbent.

* * *

The whore's blood dripped slowly from his Seal-Otter skin outfit. It had taken such a long time as he killed each of the whores and forced the girl to watch. All twenty-four of them died in a unique way. Afterwards, he moved on to the Mistress and Master of the brothel and made sure to take his time with them. After all, there was no need to rush such exceptional artwork. And besides, he had removed the lanterns, so no one would be coming. His truly crowning achievement was the _bun in the oven_. The girl screamed and screamed through her clenched teeth. She didn't stop until her body gave out and she passed out.

Now, everything was set to bring the Earth Champion into a never-ending nightmare.

* * *

Kimiko, Taja, and Lee silently ran over the rooftops of the Lower Ring buildings as they made their way back to the Elemental Chamber. As they ran, Kimiko suddenly stopped as she noticed something wrong. The area in front of them was now a black void. It wasn't the same as the night sky;that was filled with stars, while this had nothing. In fact, it almost felt like an intense sadness was coming from it.

"Any idea what that is?" the waterbender asked her partners.

"I'll give you three guess, but you're only going to need one," replied Lee.

"Varsealm." Taja said as she nodded her head.

From the shadowy void a figure emerged. The champions could see that it was shaped similarly to a human, but much shorter with its four and a half feet height. It had sharp claws at the end of its fingers. Its face was mouthless and only had two almond shaped glowing yellow eyes. From its head four long black tendrils were silently moving.

"Crap," Lee breathed out.

"Do you know what it is?" Kimiko asked him.

"Yeah, it's a Decmen6," replied Lee. "They're rather common according to the book. The only problem is that they are always in a pack."

"But I only see one of them." Taja said.

At about that time several more figures dropped from the void, just as it was closing. It had gone from one Decmen to fifteen Decmen.

"So are you still seeing only one?" Lee asked.

"Will you two love birds shut up and attack?" Kimiko shouted as they were charged.

Acting quickly, Lee pulled out his Dao Swords and set the blades ablaze with fire. As the first three neared him, he swung hard, separating their heads from their bodies. The downed monsters burst into black smoke.

Kimiko opened her water skins and bent out the full two gallons. Five of the Decmen were rushing straight at her. She formed the gallon of water in her right hand into a whip and tried to strike at them. Unfortunately, the creatures jumped into the air before the blow could land.

The water bender just smirked to herself as she sent the water in her left hand up and shot it forward at the Decmens. The water quickly became five spears of razor sharp ice. Each spear perfectly impaled the airborne Decmens. Once they had faded into smoke, Kimiko put her water back into her water skins and corked them.

As seven Decmens ran right at her, Taja unclasped her Guan Dao from her back. She lowered the long weapon to the ground as two of the creatures were closing in on her, one right behind the other. She slide the weapon between their legs and thrust up, catapulting them over her head. With the first two out of the way, she swung at the wave of four Decmen; slicing them in two. For her last opponent, she let her bending take control of the metal weapon and shot it forward. The Guan Dao ripped straight through the creature's chest, killing him instantly.

As everyone was putting their weapons back they heard the sounds of scuffling behind them. They quickly turned to see the two Decmens that Taja had launched over her head weren't dead and were intent on some payback. They had jumped into the air and were within a few feet of landing on top of her.

Kimiko quickly drew six of her throwing knives, three in each hand, and threw them as hard as she could at the creatures.

With only one of his swords in his hands, Lee pulled his arm back and threw the bladed weapon as hard as he could at the creatures.

Taja watched in morbid fascination as the creatures descended down on her, only to be struck down. Six knives came from her left, courtesy of Kimiko, and buried themselves in the creatures' face. From her right, one of Lee's swords came flying by and hit the creature on the right with enough force to go through him and impale the creature on the left. The two Decmens faded into smoke and the blades dropped to the ground.

"Thanks," Taja said a little shakily as her partners picked up their weapons.

As he sheathed his sword, Lee walked up to her and asked, "Jin, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I just wasn't expecting them to still be alive," Jin replied.

"Okay, you and Yue go ahead and head back to the Chamber," Zuko said. He then quickly asked, "You wouldn't happen to know where one of those breeding houses is, would you?"

"Yeah, there's one in the Fifth Red District at Kyoshi Way and Conch Avenue. It's the building with the red and blue tile," replied Jin without thinking.

"Thanks love," replied Zuko. He gave her a quick kiss and began to walk away.

Jin quickly snapped to and ran after him. "What do you think you're doing?" Jin demanded as she jumped in front of him.

"I think I'm going to go and burn a breeding house down," he replied.

"Zuko you can't. People would freak."

"Jin, it's wrong what they're doing. It's one thing to choose the life or be sold into it because of family debt, but to be forced into it for government reasons is complete crap."

"I know it's wrong, but if you do this, there will be rioting."

Zuko reached up with his hands and tenderly held Jin's face in them. He quickly shot his head forward, kissing her roughly with his lips.

Jin gasped in surprise as she felt his tongue enter her mouth and brush against her own. She immediately responded, by moaning and returning the kiss with great enthusiasm. But all too soon for her liking, the kiss was broken.

"I love you, Jin," Zuko gasped out huskily. "But I have to do this, understand?"

Still dazed from the intense kiss, Jin replied dreamily, "Yes."

Zuko then let go and began to run as fast as he could to the Fifth Red District.

* * *

"JIN!" Yue shouted as she caught up to her partner and saw Zuko running full speed several rooftops away.

Jin let out a yell of surprise and quickly looked around. "Damn it," she bit out.

"What's going on?" Yue asked.

"Zuko is running off to destroy a breeding house," Jin replied angrily.

"But isn't that a good thing?" Yue was confused as to why this would be a bad thing.

"On the surface it would be good," Jin began. "However, it would lead several people to panicking about firebenders, some people would want to continue the destruction and attack the other breeding houses, and anarchy would run rampant through the streets. If Long Feng were to lose any Dai Li, a full investigation would be launched into finding anyone responsible."

Yue slowly nodded her head as she began to see the big picture.

"Come on, we better catch up to him," Jin said as she took off running.

"Do you think he'll need help?" Yue asked as they ran.

"It's not Zuko, that I'm worried about," Jin replied. "It's the aftereffects. We need to stop him."

* * *

He jumped high into the air and slashed the stone glove away with his left Dao Sword, before slamming his right Dao Sword into the Dai Li's skull.

'_This is supposed to be Ba Sing Se's greatest Earthbenders?_' He asked himself with a snarl. '_This is pathetic._' Granted he had only fought five Dai Li. The rest of the Earthbenders had been drunken soldiers or those of nobility.

Finding the building had been easy enough as it was the tallest building, at four stories, within a three block radius. He had stealthily slipped in from the top of the building and began his reign of terror as he firebent, slashed, and broke the neck of anyone who wasn't one of the many women chained up.

A hundred and eighty, that's how many women were in this building alone. It was three women to every room and fifteen women on every floor. Many of the women weren't even clothed. Several of them spread themselves open when they saw him; a few cowered away, most just sat there and stared at him with a dead look in their eyes, but all of them had varying degrees of shock on their faces when he freed them from their shackles and instructed them to run. They poured out of the building like rats from a sinking ship, never bothering to look back at the hell that they had been freed from.

'_Time to burn this place to the ground,_' Zuko thought happily to himself as he sheathed his swords.

Just as he was about to have his fire erupt from his hands, his body went ridged. His arms went straight down and he straightened up. His hands and mouth had become covered in sand. '_Jin…_' He thought a little angrily at being stopped by her. His body whirled around and was greeted with the sight of both Jin and Yue.

"Don't you even glare at me, mister," Jin said as she walked closer. "We need to get out of here before this is made worse." Jin quickly made a hole in the ground and shoved Zuko down into it.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Jin, Zuko, and Yue were standing in the alleyway of Jin's entrance to the Elemental Chamber. However, they weren't making their way down to the Chamber as Jin was busy yelling at Zuko.

"What were you thinking?" Jin asked angrily. As Zuko opened his mouth to answer, Jin answered for him. "I'll tell you what you were thinking, you weren't thinking at all."

Zuko quickly closed his mouth and let Jin continue on her rant. "I know what was happening there was wrong. Believe me, I know. Remember, Zuko, I've been living here a hell of a lot longer than you have. Do you have any idea what would have happened if you had burned that building down, where all of the refugees trying to escape the Fire Nation could have seen it? They would have freaked, thinking that a Firebender was in the city. Right now, fires are bad in the city; especially, burning buildings. The people would have started tearing up the city looking for anyone to call a firebender and put the blame on them."

Jin sighed heavily, as she threw her hands into the air and continued, "And on top of everything, you killed five Dai Li agents, soldiers from the Wall, and nobles. Long Feng is going to want to know who killed his men and the nobles are going to put more pressure on the lower class than before."

Jin walked up to Zuko and gently cupped his cheek in her hand. "I know you're trying to help and you want to make things right, but please don't think that you have to do it all now and so violently."

"So what are we suppose to do? Just let them get away with it?" Zuko asked bitterly.

"No," Jin replied instantly. "First, we deal with this killer. Then, we take care of the Dai Li."

"How?" Zuko asked.

"By attacking their illegal business practices," replied Jin.

Zuko nodded his head in agreement with his girlfriend's statement. He then turned and began to head for the entrance.

"Oh, and Zuko?" Jin asked from him. Zuko turned back around to her and was pulled into a kiss on her soft supple lips. Jin then broke the kiss and said, "I love you, too."

The couple embraced tenderly and held each other close until they were interrupted by their mutual friend and companion.

"I love the both of you. Now move your asses into opening the chamber," Yue hollered at them.

Jin jumped and broke the embrace. "Oh, right. Sorry, Yue," Jin said with a heavy blush on her cheeks. Jin quickly walked over and opened her door to the Elemental Chamber.

* * *

Maki slowly opened her eyes. As the memories of the previous night returned to her, her eyes snapped completely open and she shot straight up. Suddenly realizing that she wasn't at her house or anywhere familiar to her, Maki carefully looked around and saw that she was in a destroyed bedroom. Seeing the door, she quietly opened it and eased out.

There were no windows in the hallway, the right side had doors and the left was just a solid wall. She went from door to door, carefully checking what lay beyond each of them. Each one of them was the same: bedroom, bedroom, bedroom. As Maki neared the end of the hallway, where some stairs led down, she checked the final room.

This room was different from the others. Yes, it was a destroyed bedroom like the others. But, this one had a decaying body hanging from the ceiling by some rope. Maki's eyes widened in horror; terror gripped her throat. The head of the body twisted and looked right at her, showing the young woman its fleshless face and the hanging left eye.

Acting like any sane person, Maki screamed. She screamed in pure terror as she jumped back, slamming herself against the wall. She stopped a moment later; maybe she had been imagining things. Unfortunately, she wasn't imagining what happened next.

"Why are you screaming," growled a deep deadly voice into her ear from behind her, "when I haven't even touched you yet?"

It was the voice of the killer! The one who killed the girls, her sister and brother-in-law, and their beautiful baby girl; now, she was all alone with him.

Maki took off from the wall as hard as she could and ran to the stairs as fast as she could. Not bothering to walk or run down the stairs, she grabbed hold of the railing and jumped over. There had to be a way out, there just had to be.

* * *

He smiled a little to himself. It was always so much more satisfying when the prey gave a chase.

Yes, this girl would be his masterpiece.

* * *

Far, far north, pass the Northern Water Tribe, a desolate camp of exiles was busy at work. They were the Rōdi, exiles of the Varsealm. They weren't exiles because they were bad. But rather, they were exiles because they were good. After centuries of mindless violence and death, they had grown tired of it and wanted it to end. However, this did not sit will with the Masters.

So, they were banished to the Physical World. They knew that they would receive no help in the Physical World, they were too different; if people saw them they would be called monsters. Besides, they were perfectly fine to live alone. They had carefully set up wards to deflect humans, so they only ever encountered the animals of the land.

However, their three thousand years of peaceful living was now over. They had felt the fabric of reality cringe and freeze. There was only one thing in all of existence that could do that-Aku the shape-shifter, the great destroyer.

The leader of the Rōdi was a tall male spirit by the name of Roctu. He stood tall at seven feet eight inches. His skin was light grey and covered in red tribal tattoos. For clothing he wore animal skins of the Polar Bear-Tigers.

"Is the summoning circle almost complete?" He asked, as he watched the sor-crafters7 work.

"It will be finished, just before the allotted summoning time, my Lord," replied Isis, the head sor-crafter.

"See that it is," Roctu growled. "We only have one chance to warn the world. If they aren't prepared, our peaceful way of life is over."

* * *

Jin leisurely strolled down the streets of Ba Sing Se's Lower Ring as she made her way to Pao's Family Tea House, for her daily '_getting-to-know-you-date_' with Zuko, or rather Lee. Ever since learning, who the other really was, they had been meeting at Pao's and sharing about their lives. It was an enjoyable time for the both of them.

However, as Jin walked down the street a frown marred her beautiful face. She was busy thinking about what had happened at Madame Xao's earlier that day.

**Flashback**

"_Jin, have you seen Maki today?" Mrs. Xao yelled from across the room._

"_No, I haven't," Jin replied. "Is something wrong?"_

"_Maki never showed up for work this morning." Mrs. Xao grumbled out._

"_Well, I'm sure it's nothing," Jin said reassuringly "Maybe she just got sick."_

"_Ah, maybe," agreed Mrs. Xao. "That girl is going to have a lot to make up tomorrow."_

_Jin nodded her head in agreement as she turned back to her work._

**End Flashback**

"It's probably nothing," Jin said to herself. After all, a best friend was allowed to be sick every now and again.

Deciding everything was for the best, Jin eagerly walked the last block to the tea house with a smile on her face; in hopes that _Lee_ would enjoy the low-cut top of the robe she was wearing.

* * *

Zuko, or as most people knew him in Ba Sing Se, Lee was busy stacking the clean tea cups up in Pao's Family Tea House. The tea house had been packed as always, but today a large earful of gossip accompanied it. Everyone who was anyone, which was everyone, was talking about what he had done last night at the breeding house. Rumors from the Blue Spirit to a rogue Dai Li agent to a group of shadow warriors from the Spirit World filled the small tea house.

'_I guess Jin was right,_' Zuko thought to himself. '_She's never going to let me live this down._'

"Hi Lee," came the very familiar voice of his girlfriend. '_And speaking of Jin… there… she…_' Zuko had started to think, but lost all track of thought when he saw what she was wearing. Jin wasn't wearing her normal work clothes. The pants were a much tighter than her usual baggy ones, showing off a shapely rump and well-structured legs. The robe was dark green with a dark yellow trim. The neckline of the robe was much lower than the average neckline giving Zuko an impressive view of his girlfriend's chest.

"What's wrong?" Jin asked in an innocent filled voice. But, looking into her eyes; Zuko could see that she was trying to bait him.

Despite his three years at sea and nearly no experience with girls, Zuko at least had some background knowledge. One was from a night he would never admit to unless it was under dire needs. The other, came from his men. His crew had been the foulest, rudest, most vexing crew in the entire Fire Nation and a little over half of them had trashy romance novels hidden in their bunks. After several months of practicing on the deck and plotting courses, Zuko was bored. There was only so much practice and plotting he could take, when he found the novel and learned of most of his crew's secret.

**Flashback**

_Zuko angrily stormed down the Engine Room of the Awa. To most people, it would seem that Zuko was still angry about his banishment; as it was only three months ago. While most of those people would be right, his banishment was not at the top of his list of things making him angry._

_The real reason he was angry was because he was so unbelievably BORED. There were only six things for him to do really; order the men around, plot courses, practice his firebending katas, stare out at the ocean, stare up at the sky, or listen to Uncle and his tea proverbs. Each one of them wasn't an option at the moment to pass his time. There were only so many orders he could give the men, He had already plotted the week's course and even the following two weeks, he had practiced his firebending katas enough to do them literally blindfolded, staring out at the ocean for too long made him a nauseous, staring up at the sky made him dizzy, and it would be best for everyone if he didn't have to listen to his uncle's tea proverbs._

_So, he was now in the Engine Room solely because to provided a slight change in scenery. The men were at the mess hall and he had the place to himself for a few minutes. Zuko began wandering around the room, looking at the different things in the room, when suddenly something caught his eye. He walked over to it and picked it up. It was a book, a simple paperback book._

'The Burning Ice,_' Zuko thought as he read the title questioningly. '_What a strange name for a book._'_

_Being the curious sort, not that anyone could prove it or live long enough to tell anyone about it, if they did, Zuko opened the book to a random page and began to read._

Her breath was short and strong as she panted in ecstasy. Her dark mocha skin glowed as the silver moonlight shone on her naked form. From between her legs, deep within her womanhood, her husband's manhood burned within her.

'_No, this is wrong,_' She thought dazedly to herself. '_He is my enemy, just a lone soldier in the army that attacked my people and killed my mother. So why does my body want him?_'

The once proud princess was unable to stop herself from screaming in pleasure as her newlywed husband bit her budding nips.

_Zuko quickly slammed the book shut, his face burning red with a heavy blush. How could such a…such a thing get on his ship? Hearing footsteps approaching, the young prince looked up to see several of his men returning from lunch and talking happily with each other._

'Time to ruin their fun,_' Zuko thought with a grin._

_Zuko coughed loudly, silencing all talking from his men as they turned to look at him. As he brought the book up and held it high, his men had looks of despair on their faces. "Who's is this?" He asked them._

_All of the men started talking a once and loudly too. Unable to understand them, Zuko decided to establish some order. "Silence!" he yelled. Once the men had quieted down, Zuko spoke again, "Whose is this?"_

_This time it was one lone solider who raised his hand. "Mine sir," he answered._

_Facing the man, Zuko reprimanded him. "This engine room is a work place. It is not your personal library. I will be confiscating this book for the next twenty-four hours. You will receive it back after your shift tomorrow. Do you understand?"_

"_Yes sir." The man replied shortly._

_Zuko then nodded to the rest of the men and walked out of the engine room._

**End Flashback**

So, with only allowing a blush to fill his cheeks, Zuko replied, "Nothing's wrong at all."

"Oh, that's good." Jin said with a coy smile. "Are you free for your break?"

"Yeah," Zuko replied with a nod. "Let me just tell Uncle. I'll meet you behind the tea house with some tea in a moment."

Jin nodded her head and walked out of the shop, to wait for Zuko in the back alley.

* * *

As Zuko walked into the kitchenette of the tea house to tell Iroh or Pao that he was going on break and get two cups of tea for him and Jin, a voice spoke from behind him. "You and Miss Jin seem to be getting close, Nephew."

He turned to see his Uncle standing by the door. "So what if we are," he asked with a shrug.

"I thought you were the one who was so concerned about her not finding out about anything." Iroh reminded his Nephew.

"Yeah… About that, she kind of knows." Zuko replied awkwardly.

"What do you mean?"

"Jin is the Champion of Earth." Zuko answered. "She's in this with me."

"Do you trust her?"

"I love her."

"Nephew, I didn't ask if you loved her. I asked if you trusted her." Iroh corrected.

"I do trust her." Zuko replied firmly.

"Then, I truly hope the two of you will be happy together," replied Iroh as he hugged Zuko.

"You aren't upset?"

"No." Iroh replied gently. "I would never be upset with you for following your heart."

"Thank you, Uncle. I'm going to take my break," Zuko said as he took two cups of tea out the back door.

* * *

Jin waited patiently on the comfortable wooden bench behind the tea house for Zuko. She only had to wait a few minutes, before Zuko emerged from the back door with a cup of Jasmine tea for her. "So where were we?" Jin asked, referring to their ongoing conversation about their lives and countries.

"We were talking about sports," Zuko replied. "And you had just finished telling me about the Earth Kingdom game of soccer."

"Oh, I remember now," recalled Jin. "You were about to explain the Fire Nation game of baseball. Before you had to go back to work."

Taking a sip of his tea, Zuko leaned back against the stone wall and began to talk about baseball. He described the field layout, team positions, and scoring. As he talked, Jin leaned over onto his left side and subconsciously he wrapped his arm around her. She sighed in a soft content tone, enjoying her time with her boyfriend.

* * *

Maki's eyes slowly opened, staring up at the shabby ceiling above her.

She had been unable to escape her family's killer. For nearly three hours he had chased her and all for his own enjoyment, he knew that there was no escape for her. Once he had grown tired of chasing her, Maki felt herself being picked up into the air and slammed into the walls. After about the third or fourth slam, she had passed out and awoke in a different place. She was in what looked like a warehouse, but wasn't able to see much as her naked body was restrained against the table she was lying on. She winced as she felt a sharp prick on her arm.

"Ah, you're awake I see," spoke the voice of her tormentor.

Maki tried to respond, but found herself unable to do so. Why? Why couldn't she respond? She tried to feel around the inside of her mouth and realized something; he had bolted her tongue to her jaw! Speaking would no longer be possible for her.

"I bolted your tongue, so you wouldn't swallow it. I then had your eyelids removed, so that you could see everything that I'm going to do to you. I injected you with a syringe of a supplement called adrenaline. It comes straight from the Fire Nation. It's forcing you to stay awake because I wouldn't want you to miss any of this," the killer said as he moved around her.

She looked on in horror as a highly polished slab of silver was brought over and hung above her; letting her see just exactly what had been done to her.

"There we are," spoke the killer. "Now you can watch me work." Interlacing his fingers with her's, he spoke again, "This will be quite the bonding experience for the three of us."

'_Three?_' Maki thought in shock. '_There are only two of us._'

Apparently seeing her confusion, the killer pointed to the slab of silver. Glued to the slab and a little off to the side was a hand sketched picture of a very familiar person.

'_Jin? I don't understand,_' Maki thought. Why was a picture of Jin up there? What connection did she have to this psycho?

"I thought you'd enjoy knowing why you were going to die," the killer explained. "You, your family, and your family's workers were all killed, just so I could get her attention."

From the slab of silver, Maki could see that the killer had some metal floating next to him. The metal began to flatten and smooth its self out. Soon the chunk of metal was a nice circle with highly sharp pointed edges. The circle began to spin faster and faster. It whirled as it cut through the air. Her eyes widened as the metal was brought closer and closer to her, by her legs. The metal stopped just a few inches from her skin. She looked at the man; wondering why he had stopped.

"And, here we go," he said as he looked back at her. Carefully, he pushed the spinning metal forward.

With the first cut into her, Maki screamed. Time seemed to slow with the increase of the pain. Her eyes traveled with the spurt of blood as it hit the slab of silver.

'_Jin,_' was all she could think. All of this was because he had wanted Jin's attention. The world became a painful blur of red and white and soon faded to black.

* * *

"My Lord, the sor-crafters have finished the summoning circle and have started the chant." A servant said as Roctu approached the site.

"Good. Now all we have to do is hope that the summoned will listen to us," Roctu muttered.

"Sir?" the servant asked, confused. Why wouldn't they be listened to? They had just as much to lose as everyone else.

"Their enemy is the Varsealm, which we were once a part of. Even though we have cut all ties with that place and have lead a different life for nearly three thousand years, we never told anyone this or tried to make any connection with anyone. So, why should the summoned see allies?" Roctu explained.

Before any more could be said, the place exploded in a wave of sound and light. Within mere moments the one with the potential to listen to their warning would be here.

* * *

Iroh was busy minding the three kettles of water and preparing the customers' orders, when he heard the door open. "I'm glad you're back, Nephew, the crowd has picked up."

"Don't worry about it uncle," Zuko said from behind him. "I'm on-" Zuko's voice suddenly vanished and all Iroh heard was the shattering of two tea cups.

Iroh quickly turned around, but Zuko was nowhere to be seen. All there was were two broken tea cups and a rumpled apron.

* * *

"-it," Zuko finished speaking. It was obvious that he was no longer in Pao's Family Tea House or Ba Sing Se or even the Earth Kingdom. There was far too much white everywhere. At about that moment, he noticed that he wasn't alone. Surrounding him, in a circle, were eight beings and standing past them were even more, enough to populate a small village. It was easy to see that they weren't human. They stood tall, at what looked to be seven feet. Their hair was snow white and their skin grey, marked by black tribal tattoos. For their clothing they wore animal furs that had been obviously cut and sewn into different styles. The most interesting features of their anatomy were the large Wolf-Bat like wings emerging from their backs and their dark yellow eyes…very familiar yellow eyes.

'_Varsealm,_' Zuko mentally screamed to himself, bringing his hands up in front of himself and calling upon his fire.

"Wait," called a loud deep rumbling voice.

Keeping his fire up, Zuko looked at the one who spoke. The speaker was male and looked similar to the rest, but at the same time he was different. Zuko couldn't really describe it, but this guy carried a lot of power. If he attacked, Zuko would never stand a chance.

"We mean you no harm," the man spoke. "I am Roctu leader of the Rōdi."

Zuko cautiously lowered his arms, but kept his fire up. "Where am I and why did you bring me here, Varsealm?" Zuko asked him.

At hearing the word '_Varsealm_', Roctu's eyes widened slightly. But other than that, he showed no other signs of surprise. "So you have encountered the Varsealm," Roctu said. It was a statement not a question. "We used to be a part of the Varsealm, but nearly three thousand years ago we were banished because we refused to fight anymore. The Masters of the Varsealm sent us here. Since then, we have stayed away from humans and kept to ourselves. We lead a quite peaceful life. Unfortunately, our peace is now being disturbed by a great evil."

Zuko stood listening intently as Roctu spoke.

"The Masters of the Varsealm have freed Aku and he is now here in the Physical world. If he isn't stopped, the world will be torn apart."

"Why should I be concerned about this Aku?" Zuko asked.

"Aku is the only one who actually came close to destroying the world. He is a shape-shifter, so he can change is body into anything. He is also one of the original four Masters of the Varsealm. Aku never liked progressing humanity on the path of darkness. He wanted them to bow and serve him. However, this wasn't meant to be as most people can't see spirits; unless the spirit wills the person to see them. But Aku was different; due to his shape-shifting, his power was always changing so most couldn't see him. This angered Aku and he sought the destruction of everything. Eventually, Aku was stopped and imprisoned by his fellow Masters. He was supposed to be imprisoned for all time, but now has been freed. If he is allowed to recover enough of his power, he will be unstoppable."

"And just how is he supposed to be stopped?"

"His eyes are living Varsealm fire. No matter what form he takes, his eyes will always be flaming orbs of yellow fire. Put out the fire and you put Aku out."

"If this Aku is as bad as you say, why haven't the Elders warned us?" Zuko asked pointedly.

"The Elders cannot warn you. As long as Aku is here he is blocking all higher spirits from entering the Physical World."

Zuko was surprised by this. At least it answered the question as to why the Elders hadn't made an appearance in several days. Extinguishing his fire Zuko asked, "Why tell this to me?" After all, surely there had to be someone better than a banished prince to pick from.

"The summoning circle that you are standing in was crafted to bring us the most likely person to listen to us and fight against Aku," Roctu explained.

"Okay then, how do I get back to Ba Sing Se?" Zuko asked him. It was clear that they were at one of the poles; Zuko just wasn't sure which one.

"We send you back," Roctu replied with a grin.

Before Zuko had a chance to reply, he was gone.

* * *

As Iroh walked into the kitchenette, he was surprised to see Zuko appear before him. Zuko didn't fade into existence, and there was no noise accompanying his arrival; he just simply appeared.

"Nephew, where did you go?" Iroh asked, worried.

Turning to face his Uncle, Zuko replied, "I'm not sure. However, I need to go and talk to the others." He headed for the door. "I'll be back this evening," he called over his shoulder.

* * *

Long Feng sat is his office as he waited for his scouts to return. Ever since he awoke this morning and found himself asleep at his desk instead of his bed, he had the sneaking suspicion that something was wrong. So, after a quick breakfast and change of robes, he sent several of his Dai Li agents out to look into any recent disturbances. At that moment, the first agent entered and kneeled before him. "What have you learned?" Long Feng asked the agent.

"Sir, I went to Pao's Family Tea House in the Lower Ring to look into the accusation of his tea maker being a firebender. After several hours of observing the old man, I can honestly say that he isn't a firebender." The agent replied.

Mentally crossing the tea maker off his list, Long Feng moved on to other business. "How goes watching the Avatar and his friends?"

The Agent paused a moment before replying, "Everything is fine for now, but it's obvious that the young Avatar doesn't like his current predicament."

Nodding his head, Long Feng dismissed the agent. For nearly twenty-five years Long Feng had kept an iron grip on Ba Sing Se and he'd be damned if a snot-nosed group of children would remove him from power.

* * *

Yue was sitting at her apartment's table when a knock was heard coming from her door. '_That's strange,_' Yue thought as she cautiously approached her door. '_I shouldn't be expecting anyone._'

"Who is it?" She called through the door; as she was not naive enough to just open the door.

"It's me, Lee." She heard the voice on the other side reply.

'_What would Zuko be doing here?_' Yue asked herself as she opened the door. Looking at her friend she asked, "Lee, what are you doing here?"

"We've got a problem," Zuko replied breathlessly. "May I come on?"

Nodding her head in the affirmative, Yue walked back to the table as Zuko walked in and closed the door behind him.

"So what's wrong?" Yue asked as Zuko sat across from her.

"It's like this," Zuko began. For the next hour or so Zuko told Yue what he had experienced and been told.

"So, what do you think?" Zuko asked once he had finished his tale.

"We are so screwed," Yue replied. After a moment of thinking she asked, "Do you think you can put out the fire?"

"I don't know. I went by the Chamber's Library before coming here. I looked for information on both Aku and Varsealm spirit fire. There was nothing on the spirit fire and only a three sentence passage on Aku." Zuko replied.

"What did the passage say?"

"Only that Aku was sealed away forever and if he was ever freed, it would be the end of everything," replied Zuko in a grim tone.

"So when do we tell Jin?"

"We can tell her tomorrow, as we plan for our meeting with Guam."

* * *

Walking up to the building like she owned it, which she did, Jin grasped the door handle and walked into her brothel. Looking around she saw that there were several single men, a few single women, and surprisingly five couples waiting to either be serviced by the girls or looking through the price books in the lobby.

"Good evening, Mistress," several of the girls said as she walked through the lobby towards her office. Jin greeted them in kind as she continued down the hall towards her office. Jin opened the door and was greeted by a naked Ling sitting at her desk going over the financial papers.

Seeing her Mistress in the doorway Ling immediately stood, saying, "Welcome Mistress."

Not batting an eye, Jin walked towards the desk while saying, "Thank you Ling."

Sitting down at the desk Jin began to look over the papers and was impressed at the day's high revenue. The day's profits alone would make up for half of the allowance that she had given the girls. Turning to face Ling; Jin leaned back in her chair and asked, "How are the girls?"

Ling, who had been daydreaming, snapped to attention and replied, "T-the girls are doing fine, Mistress. However, they are feeling a bit overwhelmed and were wondering, if you'd consent to getting more girls?"

"It didn't look over crowded in the lobby, even though every seat was filled. Why should I get more?" Jin asked the older woman.

"The girls are starting to burn themselves out. Everyone has performed at least five times within the last three hours. They are hoping you'd get more girls and start working shifts."

"Alright," replied Jin. "Start gathering applications together. I'll look over them during the weekend."

"Thank you very much, Mistress," Ling said as she bowed and got an eye full of her Mistress's bosom; causing her to blush.

Noticing the blush on Ling's cheeks, Jin asked, "Ling, are you staring at my breasts?"

"Wh-what? No, Mistress," stammered Ling.

(**Warning: Yuri lemon ahead. If you don't like it, don't read it.**)

Jin stood up, loosening the ties of her robe and opened it completely. "You don't have to hide it, Ling," Jin said as the robe fell to the floor.

Ling stared in wide-eyed surprise at her Mistress's voluptuous, naturally bronzed breasts.

Jin reached forward with her right hand and began to softly fondle her girl's swollen bounty. As she gently massaged the plump tit, Jin could see goose bumps forming on Ling's dark skin. Jin took the courtesan's right hand and placed it on her own sweetly curved mounds. Within a hair of a moment Ling began to move her fingers, rolling the ripe flesh of her Mistress's breast back and forth.

Jin moaned softly in pleasure as she leaned closer to Ling and captured the older woman's soft chocolate lips with her own. Ling's eyes lulled in pleasure as her Mistress's tongue slipped between her softly swollen lips. As the two continued the sweet invasion of each other's mouths with their tongues, Jin lowered her other hand on the petal-soft folds of Ling's womanhood.

Ling's eyes snapped open as she felt her Mistress's hand on her wet pulsing core.

Breaking the kiss Jin asked, as she plunged her fingers into the glistening moistness of her beloved courtesan, "Do you want me to stop?"

"No, Mistress," moaned Ling as she lowered herself more onto her Mistress's fingers. "Please don't stop." She begged.

Smiling softly, Jin delved deeper into Ling with each rhythmic push of her fingers. Ling began to breathe desperately as she bucked against Jin's hand. Soon, Jin was thrusting her fingers fast and frantic into the dark haven between Ling's legs. No longer wanting to hold back, Ling opened her mouth and screams of her pleasure filled the office.

Jin arched her eye brows in surprise as she noticed Ling's breast milk seeping steadily out, due to all the pleasure she was giving her. Not wanting to waste the opportunity Jin softly grabbed an achingly swollen breast with her free hand and captured the dark erect nipple between her soft wet lips.

Ling grasped her Mistress's hair as her tortured peak was sucked feverishly by the younger woman. Her eyes rolled up as the engorged tip of her breast spurted its white liquid bounty in to Jin's greedy mouth; pushing Ling all the more to her blood-rushing climax. As her Mistress's fingers thundered against her, Ling's body shook as her vision became white and wild wave after wave of pleasure erupted from between her silken thighs.

As Jin removed her fingers from inside Ling, her hand was washed in the spraying nectar of the woman's flower. She gently pushed back Ling's soaked lower lips; allowing the glistening spray of love to arch through the air and splash against the wall on the other side of the office.

Ling's body shook as the last of her juices spurted from between her legs. With a final shutter, her body collapsed onto her petite Mistress. Surprisingly, they didn't fall to the floor as Jin held firmly onto Ling. Picking the tall woman up bridal-style, Jin carried her over the couch where she proceeded to lie down with Ling lying on top of her. Gingerly, Jin cupped Ling's cheeks in her hands as she softly kissed her. Upon breaking the kiss Jin asked, "Did you enjoy yourself?"

"Yes," Ling replied instantly. "I enjoyed myself greatly, Mistress, but what if your boyfriend finds out?"

Jin giggled softly and replied, "This was his idea, Ling."

Ling's eyes widened at what her Mistress Just told her. "Why would he-" She began to ask, but was hushed by Jin.

"Don't worry about it," replied Jin. "You just get some sleep," she continued as she pulled the couch's throw over them and gently placed Ling's head on her right breast as a pillow.

(**End of lemon**)

As they lay on the couch, a muffled jingle was heard passing by the door.

"What's that?" Jin asked curious as to what was causing the sound.

"That would be Tigger, Mistress," replied Ling.

"You mean that's her-" Jin began to ask but stopped when Ling nodded her head in the affirmative.

"I'm surprised you let her get it." Ling commented.

"Yeah well, she wanted it and was able to buy it; so, I let her go for it." Jin replied. "Besides, Tigger, seems to like it."

Ling just shrugged and snuggled closer to her Mistress as sleep slowly began to claim her.

* * *

It had taken several hours for the girl to die, but what a piece of work she had been. For hours he had carefully cut away her skin and only the skin.

Afterwards, he carefully began to remove the top layer of her muscles that held everything together. It was during this, that she finally died. However, the work wasn't done yet. Cutting very carefully, he was able to remove her nerves and used them to sew her skin together. Her head had been left perfectly intact and was cleanly separated from the rest of the body. Each bone was then carefully removed and bent with masterful earthbending to form a large self-standing arch. Using the reminder of her small intestines, he strung her skin to the bones and at the top of the arch was her head.

He then painstakingly moved several large slabs of highly polished silver around the warehouse to reflect as much sun as he could onto the hide that had once been the girl. Now, it was only a matter of time for the Earth Champion to discover what had happened to her friend and lead her fellow champions into his trap. It would be quite the massacre when they faced Aku.

Now, all that was left was to get a peaceful night's sleep.

* * *

Kimiko sighed as she stretched out the kinks in her back. The afternoon had been very busy and tiring for her. After her talk with Zuko, they had gone to the training room of the Elemental Chamber to work on their fighting, most notably the combining of their attacks.

**Flashback**

"_How do you propose we combine our attacks, Zuko?" Yue asked her fellow champion._

_The two champions were standing in the training room of the Elemental Chamber. The training room was a large room with an underground lake and a life-size model of a city street. There were also several targets and punching bags spread throughout the room, including, one punching bag that was metal._

"_Have you ever seen what boiling hot water can do?" Zuko asked. When Yue shook her head, he explained his plan to her. "If you get the water hot enough, it can cook your target alive."_

"_Let's try it." Yue said, eager to see what would happen._

_Zuko began to heat up the water in the lake and within seconds the water was erupting in bubbles. As her partner continued to heat the water, Yue began to pull at the water with her bending. With a quick thrust of her hand she shot a high-pressured blast of water at a wooden training dummy. The end result was one shattered training dummy and two very surprised benders._

"_Kick ass," Zuko exclaimed in surprise. He had expected it to be strong, but not that strong._

"_You can say that again," exclaimed Yue in agreement._

_For the next several hours the two trained on perfecting the technique, until Yue had to leave for work._

**End Flashback**

Now, she was relaxing on the couch in the employee's lounge room at Virgo; enjoying her break while Bull (a.k.a. Dak-Ho) and Hawk (a.k.a. Daiyu) took care of things down stairs. Unfortunately, she was brought out of her relaxed state by the soft bickering of two voices. Opening her eyes, Kimiko saw that it was both Lieu and Nu. The two girls always seemed to be arguing when she was around, for some strange reason.

"I take it you both have something you want to tell me?" Kimiko asked them, interrupting their argument.

"Oh, it's nothing Kimiko," replied Lieu with a soft blush at interrupting the beautiful bouncer's down time.

"Actually, I was wondering if you'd like to go out," Nu replied in her oddly pleasant monotone voice.

Before, Kimiko could even reply, Lieu rounded on her co-worker. "I'm asking her out. I was here first."

"I didn't see you moving," Nu snipped back.

"I'll go out with both of you," replied Kimiko cutting through the waitresses' argument.

Lieu and Nu turned to Kimiko to see if they heard correctly. "What?" they asked in unison.

"I said, '_I'll go out with both of you,_'" Kimiko repeated herself. She then asked, "When should we go out?"

"How about we go out tomorrow night?" Lieu suggested.

"I'll be busy with some friends tomorrow night," Kimiko replied instantly. "How about Ogdooday night?"

"Sure that works," Lieu replied in the affirmative.

"Great, I'll see you both then," Kimiko replied as she stood up to head back down stairs.

"Both?" Lieu and Nu asked confused.

"Yes, '_both_' of you. You both asked me out, I agreed to both of you, I just set up the time with both of you. So yes, both of you," explained Kimiko.

The white-haired beauty then gently kissed them both on the cheek, before exiting the room and leaving behind two very confused girls.

* * *

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Zuko carefully began to bend the heat away from the newly forged steel rod arrows. Once enough of the heat was removed and the metal was cool, Zuko carefully loaded four of the arrows into the crossbow-gauntlet. He then loaded the freshly crafted belt with the spare arrows and went into the training room for target practice.

Standing roughly fifteen feet from the target, Zuko strapped the crossbow-gauntlet onto his right arm and turned the safety off. He aimed the crossbow-gauntlet at the target and pressed the firing switch. The four five-inch long steel rod arrows cut through the air with whistling streaks. The arrows smashed hard into the wooden target, going straight through it and embedding themselves two inches deep in the wall three feet behind the target.

"The crossbow-gauntlet is a success," Zuko said to himself. "I don't know what to expect from Aku or this killer, but better safe than sorry." He then went over to the wall to pull out the arrows and finish the design of the crossbow-gauntlet.

* * *

The night sky was clear as Sokka sat on the back steps of the temporary house they had been given and stared up at the waning moon. As he stared at the moon his thoughts drifted to a certain Northern Water Tribe Princess; that he had failed to protect. The more he thought about Yue the more a certain other girl began to replace the princess. She was Suki, the red-haired leader of the Kyoshi Warriors.

'_Why did I kiss her?_' Sokka thought to himself. '_I was still grieving over Yue. I never got to show Yue that I would have been a better husband for her than Hahn._'

The Southern Water Tribe warrior was soon interrupted by the voice of his sister. "Sokka, what are you doing out here so late?" Katara asked from behind him.

"Nothing," Sokka replied; not even bothering to turn to answer Katara.

Katara stared vexingly at her brother and then glanced up at the moon, before turning her gaze back to Sokka and said, "Sokka, you can't keep thinking about Yue. You need to move on."

"I wasn't thinking about her."

"Sokka, you were staring at the moon. What else could you have been thinking of?"

"I was thinking of the kiss I had with Suki on Serpent's Pass," Sokka answered.

Katara's eyes widened in surprise at what her big brother had told her. "You kissed Suki?" When Sokka nodded yes, she asked, "Why would you do that? Yue died two and a half months ago."

"Didn't you just say, '_I needed to move on_'?"

"Yeah, but still… To go around kissing another girl so soon is just mean, Sokka."

"I'm not going to explain myself to you, little sister," Sokka said as he stood up. "I'm going to bed." He then brushed past Katara, heading for his room.

Katara stared after her brother for a moment, before shaking her head and heading in herself.

* * *

The next day the sun was shining brightly in the sky. The adults mingled about, the children laughed and played; even the birds were singing an extra sweet tune. It was as if everything was truly perfect in the imperfect city of Ba Sing Se. However, not everyone was feeling the happiness. Jin frowned slightly to herself as she walked to the streets of Ba Sing Se's Middle Ring Crimson District. She wasn't headed for her own brothel, Taja's Playground, instead she was walking towards the brothel her best friend's older sister owned, The Golden Dragon. The reason for her visit was due to what her boss had told her that morning.

**Flashback**

"_Jin," Madame Xao called from behind the Earth Kingdom girl._

"_Yes, Madame Xao?" Jin asked as she turned to face her boss._

"_Has Maki reported in today?"_

_Thinking for a moment, Jin then replied in a slightly worried tone, "No, Madame Xao she hasn't."_

"_That girl had better have one heck of a sickness for missing two days of work in a row." Madame Xao grumbled as she shuffled past._

**End Flashback**

Jin had been friends with Maki seven long years. They knew each other better than anyone else and Jin knew for a fact that Maki was never sick enough to miss two days of work in a row. Something was wrong.

Walking up to Menthe's brothel, Jin took notice of two very curious facts. The first fact was that the lanterns were gone. Menthe's brothel was always open; nine days a week, five weeks a month, twelve months a year. It just didn't close. The second fact was that wasn't any noise. There should have been noise-noise of some kind. You didn't have twenty-four women and a growing family in a five-story building without some kind of noise going on.

Jin slowly opened the door and stepped inside. She gasped in shock at what she saw; the lobby of The Golden Dragon was completely destroyed. Directing her chi into her bending Jin used her Seismic Sense and a split second later she wished she hadn't as she _felt_ everything in the building and her mouth filled with the contents of her stomach, as a result of it.

Dead! They were all dead. All twenty-seven residents of The Golden Dragon were dead and she could feel each and every one of them. The girls had either been crushed by earth, all of their bones shattered, ripped apart, bent at inhuman angles, or spikes of earth rammed through them. A couple of the girls had been stuffed with earth, until their stomachs popped. The worst out of all had been Menthe and her family. Menthe's spine had ripped out of her and used to pierce her husband to the wall. Their precious six-month old baby girl, Mali, was in the stone oven. Even though the oven cooling, there was still heat coming from it. All of this, all of it, Jin was able to feel.

With great effort, Jin swallowed the bile in her mouth and ran through the building. She bent the walls out of her way as she ran full speed to the other side of the brothel. With a flick of her hand she blasted the back door and its doorframe straight off the wall. Behind The Golden Dragon brothel was a spacious backyard and on the other side of that backyard was a little cozy two-story house, Maki's house.

As she approached the house, Jin shot her hand forward and activated her Seismic Sense. Pressing her hand against the wall Jin felt inside; the doors had been destroyed, walls ripped and slashed at, tables over turned, and furniture destroyed. But where was the body? Try as she might Jin couldn't find Maki's body.

'_Wait, what's that?_' Jin asked herself as she felt Maki's bedroom. There was an object there that had never been in her friend's room. It was a stone pedestal and it felt like there was something very light on it.

Jin opened the door and slowly walked through the house. There was no order to the destruction; it was if someone had let lose a Horse-Bull in a porcelain shop. Opening the door to Maki's bedroom, Jin could see that she was right. Everything had been smashed and pressed against the walls and in the center of the room was a simple four-foot stone pedestal and on it was a folded piece of paper. The words, '_To the Earth Champion_', were written on the paper.

Jin's eyes were wide with surprise; only four people knew she was the Earth Champion. Picking up the paper, she opened it and read,

_Do I have you attention Earth Champion? Yes, I know who you are. I know exactly who you all are. You have quite the large family; it would be a shame if anything happened to them. I hope you enjoyed the display of my strength. It was just a little taste all for you. I was rather proud of the little one in the oven. It certainly does give an ironic twist to the old expression, '_She's got a bun in the oven._' Doesn't it? Your little friend is with me and she will make an excellent display of my power._

"THIS WAS ALL TO GET MY FUCKING ATTENTION?" Jin yelled in anger. She screamed in rage and sadness at the unimaginable horror that had befallen her friend as tears flowed freely from her eyes. She had heard from her girls how the Dai Li did their best to keep this killer's actions a secret, but not this time. Jin wouldn't let them.

Jin turned back to the brothel and extended her arms. Keeping the support beams and floors in place she forced the walls down; forcing the citizens to look at the horror inside. Knowing that she couldn't be seen, Jin opened a hole in the living room of Maki's house and stepped in. With a heavy heart Jin fled the home of her best friend; most likely to never see Maki alive again.

She would find this _legendary killer_ and rip him apart.

* * *

Zuko talked animatedly with Yue as they both walked down to the Elemental Chamber. At both of their respective places of employment, several of the customers had been talking about the grotesque multiple murders that had happened at a Middle Ring brothel. Rumors had covered everything from the victims being ripped apart to the Dai Li being the one's responsible. The one thing no one was sure of was how the walls of the brothel came down so cleanly.

"Maybe we could ask Jin. Her girls might know," commented Yue as they stepped into the chamber.

Before Zuko could reply a loud explosion was heard, deafening the room as it shook. The source of the destruction appeared to be coming from the chamber's training room. The two champions glanced at each other before rushing to the training room.

Cautiously, they opened the door and peered inside. It was easy to see by the amount of destruction that the training room had seen better days. The floor was ripped and in shambles, cracks covered the walls, and half of the single-story buildings were destroyed. In the center of the rubble was a very angry Jin. They watched as she raised her left arm and jerked to towards herself. This caused one of the buildings to come flying at her through the air. Without blinking an eye, Jin jumped into the air and delivered a spinning roundhouse kick to the building once it was close enough. The poor building never stood a chance against the unmovable will of the Earth Champion; the building broke apart into several large chunks and flew back with enough force that the rubble destroyed two more buildings.

"This looks like one of those couple's problems that I've heard so much about, so I'm just going to let you deal with her," Yue said right before she shoved Zuko into the room.

'_I swear I'll find a way to get back at you for that, Yue,_' Zuko thought to himself as he glanced back at the door. He then turned his head back towards Jin and began walking forward.

"JIN!" Zuko yelled over the rumbling and shaking of the room. "JIN, YOU'VE GOT TO STOP THIS!" Seeing that he wasn't getting through to her, Zuko ran at her as hard and fast as he could. Once he was close enough, Zuko leapt forward tackling Jin hard to the ground. Once on the ground, Zuko quickly turned Jin over so that she would know that it was him. "Jin, what is going on?" He asked her. He knew that his girlfriend was a diverse woman. One minute she could be happy, then the next sad. However, he had never seen her so bent on destruction. Zuko watched as realization appeared on Jin's face. Once she knew it was him, her eyes welled up with tears and she began weeping.

"Jin, what's wrong?" Zuko asked. Surely, he hadn't tackled her that hard?

"They're dead," Jin sobbed out. "They're all dead."

'_Dead? Who's dead?_' Zuko asked himself as he wrapped his arms around Jin in a comforting hug.

Not knowing what else to do, Zuko picked Jin up and carried her out into the main chamber. He gently sat down in one of the chairs, still holding her closely. As she began to calm down, he asked, "Jin, can you tell me who's dead?"

"You remember on the night of our first mission, I told you both that my best friend's older sister ran a brothel?"

"Yes, you said that they weren't doing anything illegal themselves," Yue replied from the side.

"Well earlier today at work, I learned from my boss that Maki, my best friend, hadn't been at work for two days in a row. I've known Maki since we were nine. When we started work together she was never sick enough to miss two days of work in a row. So, I decided to pay her a visit at her house after work…" For the next thirty minutes, Jin told them everything. From how she found everyone dead to the disturbing letter left by the killer to bringing down the brothel's walls. She ended it, by showing them the letter and saying, "After that I rushed home to check on my family. I saw that they were all okay and then came here to release my anger over what happened to Maki, her family, and her sister's girls."

Zuko and Yue read the letter in shock. Never before would they have thought that something like this would happen. Sure, they had both killed, they wouldn't deny it, but at least it was with a purpose. This? This was just mindless slaughter. The biggest question of all was how did this killer know who they were?

Looking at Jin, Zuko asked, "Will you be alright for tonight's mission?"

"Yeah, I'm good," Jin replied as she stood up from the chair.

"Then let's get ready." Yue said with a clap of her hands.

* * *

An hour later the three champions were floating high above the city thanks to Taja's masterful earthbending of the floating piece of earth they were on.

"So, what do we know about the target?" Lee asked as he peered down at the city.

"According to the information we stole, Guam is a veteran agent. He has been a Dai Li for thirty years. When Long Feng came into power, the two butted heads about informing the newly appointed Earth King Kuei about the war. In the end, Long Feng was the victor and since the Earth King was only six at the time it was easy keeping him ignorant. Guam felt that since there was no war _in_ Ba Sing Se, he should be allowed to profit from the war _outside_ of Ba Sing Se. It is rumored that, during the Dragon of the West's Siege of Ba Sing Se, Guam disappeared and reappeared sometime after the siege with a box of mysterious contents. The contents of this box were never known. However, soon after his return, people started to have drug induced hallucinations. The blame was never pinned on Guam, but he did get reassigned. His reassignment was the unexplainable killings in the city. Six months after his reassignment, he catches a break by seeing a killer flee the scene of a murder. He gave chase after the kill, but lost him. Two weeks later, his entire family disappears. His wife, her parents, his parents, their siblings, their children, and their sibling's children. In the end, a total of fifty-two people disappeared. Three weeks later, their severed heads were discovered in a house located on the southern mountains of the city's Agrarian Zone. It was noted that the house was made from the victim's _bones_. Since that time Guam has lived a life of solitude. He bought himself a small apartment complex in the Lower Ring's Magma District and leveled the place. He replaced the apartment complex, with a small house. He is now waiting to retire." Kimiko replied as she had taken to upon herself to memorize the information.

"So after we deal with this Guam, what do we do about this Aku you told me about?" Taja asked as she glanced back at Lee.

"We get the information from Guam and we find the killer. We find the killer and we find Aku. We find Aku and pray to the spirits that it's not too late for us to kill him," Lee explained.

'_Well, I'm glad we've got such a solid plan,_' Kimiko thought with a roll of her eyes.

"There's the house," Taja said and began the decent down.

As they got closer and closer to the ground, Taja silently bent the roof off the small house; allowing her and her companions entrance into the dwelling. Once they landed Lee turned to his partners and said, "I'll leave the set up to the two of you, while I go and get the guest of honor."

* * *

As Lee left the room, Taja began to push everything to the side and rose up a table of earth. It was easy to see that one level of the table was much shorter than the other. Kimiko looked over her water skins; making sure she had brought enough water. At that moment, Lee walked back into the room with a tightly bound man a little older than fifty, who could only be Guam.

Lee placed the man on the table and made sure that his head dangled off the lower end of the table. Taja then used her Earthbending to hold him in place. Kimiko bent down to the struggling man and said, "We have some questions, Guam, and we want you to answer them. You can answer them the easy way or the hard way; it's your choice. First question, what can you tell us about this Master Killer of Ba Sing Se?" She removed the gag so that he could reply.

"He has been murdering people for twenty-five years now. His current count of victims is over a hundred and fifty," The aged agent replied. "He picks and chooses his victims at random. They could be men, women, or children; it doesn't matter to him. In the past twenty-five years only one person has ever gotten a clear look at him."

"We already know about Roga," Taja interjected.

"Then you should know that it was because of Roga that we coined a name for the killer. No one knows how the kid's mother died. All anyone does know is that even a week after her murder, we were still finding slivers of her throughout the alleyway where she killed. When we found the kid in the alley all he could say was one word and that work became the killer's name. We called him Shkiit."

"Shkiit? What kind of a name is Shkiit?" Lee asked.

"Have you ever rubbed the razor's edge of two blades together? That's the sound they produce," Guam replied. "Several of the Dai Li have seen glimpses of him, but none have ever been able to catch him. In fact, we can't even say for sure if it is a guy. The only thing we can agree on is that the killer has to be an Earthbender. The way some of his kills and escapes are pulled off; he can't be anything but one."

"Why haven't the Dai Li done more to stop him?" Taja asked with concealed anger.

"Don't you think we've tried? Every agent who got too close to catching this guy either wound up dead or discovered their family dead," replied Guam. "It doesn't matter if it's in the Upper, Middle, or Lower ring-he will find a way to get to you if he wants to. He has even gotten inside the Earth King's Palace. Most of his murders we learn about are when he leaves information about it on Long Feng's desk. Within the past four months we believe his activities have increased as indicated by a vast jump in missing people claims. However, we don't know as he hasn't sent any proof to us."

"Okay, well thank you for all of that," Kimiko replied. "Now for the second question, who is your supplier for the Blue Bell flower petals?"

The old agent's eyes widened in surprise. "I'm not talking." He growled out.

"Fine then," Kimiko said with a shrug of her shoulders. She then turned to Lee and nodded her head.

Lee stepped forward with a wash rag and covered the man's face with it. With the rag firmly over the agent's face, Kimiko bent her water out of one of her many water skins and held the gallon of water above the man's head. She carefully began to loosen her control of it, allowing the water to pour down on the man's face hitting in particular his breathing passages. Once the gallon was used, she bent the water back into the water skin and motioned for Lee to remove the rag.

"Feel like telling us now?" Kimiko asked in a chipper voice.

"Fuck you," Guam gasped out.

"Oh well," Kimiko said with a shrug and had Lee cover his face again.

* * *

For nearly an hour the agent refused to say anything. But after a particularly malicious session in which Kimiko bent her water into a constantly spinning wheel of water and kept the agent under it for a full ten minutes. After that, the agent told them everything. From how he had left the city during the siege to how he originally met the Fire Nation merchant named Agas Jian, who was looking to expand his drug trade and offered Guam a hefty profit to be the one who oversaw the drugs making their way into the city. He gave them the drop-off points, the times, and current gross revenue. He even supplied them with rumors of other less-than-favorable activities that he had heard of the other agents being involved in.

Once Guam finished spilling his guts, Lee bent the heat in the agent's body to make him pass out and returned him to his bed. Kimiko and Taja got rid of all the evidence that they were there and returned everything to its rightful place. The three champions were now below the ground of the city; Jin bending the earth around them, pushing them forward as they quickly made their way back to their area of the city.

"Well, we got the information from the agent," Taja began her tone a little angry. "Now, what do we do?"

"We wait." Lee replied.

"WHAT?" Taja yelled. She stopped bending the earth around them and whirled around; facing Lee. "What do you mean, '_we wait'_? I am not waiting for that ass-fuck, do you understand me? I want this man dead. When I say '_dead,_' I mean seriously dead; beaten, broken. His-head-mounted-on-my-wall kind of dead! Do you understand that?"

"Of course dear," Lee replied soothingly. "But there's the tiny fact that we don't even know where Shkiit is located. However, he knows about us, so we wait for him to make contact with us. Once, he makes contact we then kill him and mount his head on your wall."

"Fine," Taja growled before turning around and starting to bend the earth once more.

* * *

Guam's eyes shot opened as he awoke with a gasp. Frantically, he glanced about his room, but saw no signs of three mysterious hooded figures. He slowly got out of his bed and made his way out of his bedroom. He checked the kitchen, the bathroom, and the living room and found nothing out of place. Shaking his head, the old agent headed back for his bedroom. It would be best to forget that anything ever occurred. After all, it wasn't like he could report it. If he did, he would be imprisoned.

"I must be going crazy," Guam commented to himself allowed.

"Oh, I wouldn't necessarily say that's true," a voice rumbled behind him as the hinges of his door creaked due to the door being closed, trapping him in his own bedroom.

Guam spun around just in time to see the towering black figure with eyes of yellow fire shoot out a tendril from its body and pierce Guam through his stomach.

"Shkiit, sends you his regards and says you were his best playmate, but playtime is now over," The six-horned figure said menacingly as Guam gasped for life.

As the life slowly began to fade from his body, Guam's final view was watching the monster that killed him shift into a raven still with eyes of yellow fire and fly out the window.

* * *

Zuko silently crept into his apartment. With how late it was, Iroh was bound to be asleep and Zuko didn't want to disturb his Uncle's rest. Plus, if his uncle awoke he'd want to know what happened and Zuko wasn't in the mood to tell his uncle anything at the moment. So, he placed his shirt in the hamper and his shoes by the bedroom door. Zuko then silently got into the futon and began to pull the covers up as he laid his head down on the pillow.

However, as his head made contact with the pillow a crinkling noise was heard coming from under the pillow. Zuko raised his head and moved the pillow to discover a letter that had been hidden under his pillow. He quickly glanced back and forth, before reaching for the letter. Opening it he read,

_How was speaking with Guam, Prince of Fire? Oh yes it is me, cute little Shkiit. If your girlfriend wants to see what happened to her friend, she might be able to find something at the highest point in Ba Sing Se. I do hope that you will both enjoy my latest piece._

Zuko's eyes widened in fear and immediately sat up and activated his Heat Vision to get a look at everything around him.

Looking around the apartments, Zuko could see that nothing was out of place. Iroh was in the futon next to him peacefully sleeping, all five members of the Lang family were sleeping, and above him Yue was already asleep, by her body temperature. Everything in the apartment complex was as it should be; even though Zuko knew this and his body was tired, sleep was the furthest thing from his mind.

He carefully got out of bed and walked over to the window. '_How is it everything has become so messed up?_' He thought to himself. As he stared up at the sky, Zuko noticed a small bird flying across the distant sky. The interesting thing about this bird was its small yellow eyes of fire. '_Shit, I guess Aku is here in the city,_' Zuko thought as he backed away from the window. Zuko knew he would be no match for the monster without Jin and Yue to back him up. He silently kept watch until the spirit was out of sight. Once the spirit was out of sight, Zuko got himself a cup of water and after drinking it, went to bed. It was going to be a hell of a day tomorrow and he would need his sleep, if he was to survive.

* * *

Dawn.

The bright sun hung high in the cloudless sky as it slowly baked the citizens of Ba Sing Se.

'_Damn, I always thought that it would be severally overcast and storming on the day I stood a chance of being killed,_' Zuko thought morbidly as he stood on the roof of the apartment complex. '_At least then everyone would say my killer only got lucky because my firebending wasn't at full strength. Thanks to all this sunny weather there's no reason that I shouldn't be at full strength. Oh well, time to get started._' Zuko jumped down from ledge to ledge and, once he was on the ground, proceeded to enter the apartment building.

* * *

A few minutes later, Zuko was knocking on Yue's door. The door was soon answered by a groggy, Yue, who was pondering who would be stupid enough to awaken her at ten in the morning. "Lee, what do you think you're doing?" She asked once she saw that it was her friend.

"Get dressed," Zuko said not bothering to explain himself.

Arching an eyebrow, Yue asked, "And why should I?"

"We've got trouble and we need to get our asses moving, now." Zuko replied.

Knowing that the Firebender wasn't one to joke around, Yue went into her bedroom and started putting her clothes on.

* * *

Everything around her just seemed so pointless.

Just three days ago Maki had been alive. Laughing and joking right beside her. She had planned on popping the threesome question to Maki on their '_Girl's Night Out_' Enatosday night, but now she would never get that chance for her two greatest loves to be together with her. Maki was probably in several pieces by now and was being feed upon by insects. All the while, everyone around her went on with their live like normal.

"Jin, you've got some visitors," hollered Madame Xao, distracting Jin from her thoughts.

Jin knitted her eyebrows in confusion and went to the front of the store and was surprised to see both Zuko and Yue in the store. "What are you both doing here?" she asked in confusion.

"I do not know," replied Yue. "Ask him. He told me we needed to come here, but wouldn't say why."

"Can you take a break?" Zuko asked as she turned towards him.

"Sure," Jin replied. She then yelled to the back room, "I'M GOING ON BREAK." She then took off her sewing apron and joined the others outside.

A little while later the three champions were standing on the roof of a nearby building. "What's so important for you both to come here?" Jin asked, breaking the silence.

Digging through his robes, Zuko replied, "When I was going to sleep last night I found this under my pillow." He pulled a folded letter out and handed it to the girls.

They unfolded the letter and began to read and as they read their eyes grew wide with surprise.

Once Jin and Yue finished reading the letter, Zuko spoke again. "It gets worse," he told them.

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but how could it be worse than this?" Yue asked.

"We now have visual confirmation of Aku being in the city," Zuko replied grimily.

"What? How," Jin asked in surprise.

"I saw Aku flying across the sky last night in the form of a raven," Zuko said as he recalled the event.

"How do you know that it was Aku?" Yue asked skeptically.

"The eyes of the raven were yellow fire. The same eyes Aku has no matter the form he takes," he explained.

"This has got to end," Jin said. "I say we go now and see what Shkiit has, and then kill him."

"We can't." Zuko told his girlfriend.

"Why not," Jin asked annoyed.

"You are in the middle of work, In a few hours my own work shift will be starting, It's bright and clear out so we would be more easily identified, and there's also the Dai Li to consider," Zuko replied listing the reasons why.

"What if we go at sunset?" Yue asked. Both of her companions turned to look at her. "If we go it sunset it will be that much sooner for us to end this. Plus, it will be harder for people to see us clearly, if the sun is to our backs."

"Okay then, we go at sunset," Zuko said with a nod of his head. He turned to Jin and asked, "Where is the highest point in Ba Sing Se?"

"It depends," Jin replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "If you are talking the city city, it would be the great spirit temple in the Middle Ring. However, if you are talking about everything within the Outer Wall; it would then be the Pharaoh Mountain Range, located just west of the main city."

"Which point do you think Shkiit is at?" Yue asked Jin.

"He can't be at the temple, it's too crowded there. Someone would have seen him. The Pharaoh Mountains would be the perfect place for him to hide; as no one is allowed to live on the mountain due to its instability," replied Jin.

"How unstable is it?" Zuko asked her. After all, his people lived around volcanoes, so how bad could a mountain be?

"Centuries ago, a man tried to build a house on the mountain and he succeeded. However, a month later the house slid and fell off a ledge. The rocks are sharp and deadly, the paths narrow and very rocky, and the crevices are deep and many. The Earth King had to make a decree forbidding the construction of any dwellings on the mountain," Jin said, as she remembered the history of Ba Sing Se.

The three quickly made plans to meet up that evening and soon left. Each of them to pass what could be their final day in their own way.

* * *

The day was busy at Taja's Playground. There was escorting to be done, dances to be had, and couples to excite. It was only their fourth day, at the new place, and already the girls were starting to pressured. Luckily, a blessing had come along in the form of girls who were eager to work at Taja's Playground.

"What are we going to do with all of these applications?" Ayame asked from the floor. She may not have been able to see them, but she certainly could feel them. All two hundred of them, that had been filled out and returned.

"We're going to finish picking up the applications that fell," replied Ling. "And put them on Mistress's desk. She wants to look over them."

"How many do you think she will acquire?" Ayame asked as her sightless eyes stared straight ahead.

"She plans to have day and night shifts, so I would say twelve." Ling said, giving Ayame her opinion of the situation.

Ayame shrugged her shoulders with indifference and continued to gather up the scrolls.

* * *

The sun dipped low as it touched the ground and bled the cloud-filled sky red.

'_At least the weather has improved,_' Zuko thought as he, Yue and Jin flew across the sky once more on a small piece of earth that Jin controlled with her earthbending. '_This is perfect weather to be killed or to kill._'

"So what's the plan?" Yue asked them.

"The center mountain is the tallest," began Jin. "We're going to hit that one and hit it hard."

The three looked down to see the mountain range below them. They were high enough that the mountains looked like nothing more than large bumps on the surface of the earth. "Ready?" Jin asked them as she laid stomach down on the floating piece of earth. Zuko and Yue followed her actions and once they were lying down with her they nodded their heads. With a flick of her hand, Jin incased everyone's bodies in earth to hold them firmly in place. Their legs, arms, and sides were all held firmly by the earth. Only their backs and heads were not covered in earth; even through their heads were carefully braced against the earth to cancel the coming whiplash. Slowly, Jin began to tilt the platform of earth until they were nearly vertical. "Hold on to your stomachs," Jin said right before she bent the piece of earth they were on back to the ground at break-neck speeds.

The wind howled in their ears as the ground grew closer and closer. Each of them wanted to scream, but none dared. It would be best if as few as possible knew about what was about to take place. When they were only a few yards above the ground Jin braked the falling earth hard. With their bodies securely in place, the effects of whiplash were negated. Jin was able to land on the ground without any trouble and as they recovered and started to stand, Yue let out a horrified gasp.

Seeing that their friend was looking at something behind them, Zuko and Jin turned around to see what it was and when they did they saw a sight straight out of a nightmare. A short distance from them was a tree. But it was not a tree of wood, a growing plant. No, this was a tree of corpses. A hundred bodies, all in various stages of decay, were inhumanly bent and twisted to form what would look like a dying tree if the viewer was far enough back. The worst part was at the base of the tree; there they saw an archway made of bones they were stretching out what looked like sewn human skin. At the center point of the archway was a severed human head. The head appeared to be female by its facial features and long brown hair.

"Maki," Jin choked out at the sight of her friend. "I swear I'm going to make him suffer."

"No you aren't," Zuko replied deadpanned.

"The hell I'm not," snapped Jin.

Zuko suddenly shot out a hand and grabbed Jin by the collar of her shirt. He pulled her close as he said; "Look at that," pointing to the carnage in front of them. "Do you honestly think you can make someone like that suffer or even regret anything? Every second you let him live is a second long you let him have life, even if it's only to torture him." Cupping her hooded face in his hands Zuko kissed her passionately. Breaking the kiss, he rested his forehead against Jin's own. "I promise you this, even if I have to tear apart this city, this monster will not see tomorrow's sunrise. We will kill him and send him to the afterlife. Allowing those he killed, to deal with him. They have had years to wait and plan for this. They will inflect more pain than we ever will be able to. Okay?"

Jin bowed her head, resting it on Zuko's shoulder. "Fine, just as long as he's dead," Jin replied as a lone tear fell from her eye.

"Quite an impressive accomplishment for a pathetic human," a deep voice rasped from behind them.

The three whirled around and were met with the sight of a fourteen foot tall spirit of darkness that had six horns and bright yellow eyes of fire.

"Aku," Jin yelled. "Where is Shkiit?"

"Not here," replied the aged spirit. "You three fools came here like flies to a freshly filled latrine pit."

"Fine, then-we'll kill you and find him ourselves." Yue barked.

"I don't think so," replied Aku. Defying the common laws, Aku's shadow rose from the ground and slashed at them with his right clawed hand.

Slamming her foot hard into the earth, Jin forced three pillars of earth to shoot up at blinding speeds; launching herself and the others into the air. "Keep him distracted," Zuko told her before he pushed away and ignited fire under his, feet allowing himself to stay airborne.

As she began to fall back to the ground, Yue bent her water out of her water skins and formed a platform of ice beneath her feet allowing her to say in the air. A second later Zuko appeared next to her and quickly said, "I need you and Jin to keep him distracted, I've got a plan but I need a minute."

"Alright," Yue replied as Zuko pulled back. Using as much of her bending as possible, Yue began to form several large spheres of water totaling eighteen in all. With her face full of concentration and determination in her eyes. Yue wildly began moving her arms in fast graceful strong motions. The spheres of water, each measuring a yard in diameter, surrounded Aku and. following Yue's movements, began to viciously attack Aku with powerful unrelenting water whips.

Joining her friend in the attack, Jin brought forth twenty-seven boulders from the surrounding mountains. Concentrating hard, Jin compressed each of them down to the size of a beach ball. Jin quickly placed each of them in the air to strike Aku from every angle. With a flick of her had, Jin sent pieces of the boulder flying off at blinding speeds. Within a second the area was thick with dust from the ground as it was blasted to bits.

Yue and Jin stopped for a moment to see what their combined work had done. Once enough of the dust cleared, they were shocked to see that Aku had changed his form into that of a giant scorpion and there wasn't so much as a single scratch on him.

Aku laughed deep and hard at their wasted efforts. "Childish, very childish," he rumbled as turned to face the two females. "Now die," roared Aku as he charged them.

* * *

The girl's efforts weren't wasted however, for Aku made a mistake. He forgot about the Fire Champion. High above them, Zuko had been concentrating. He had needed Jin and Yue to distract Aku, so that he could ready his most powerful current attack. Despite what was currently known about being able to bend lightning to firebenders at large, there actually were some lightning techniques other than just throwing it around. The techniques were deadly, in that that they were as likely to kill the user as well as the target.

Zuko held his right arm straight out to the side and slightly to the back. His fingers were straight out and pressed together; forming his arm into a blade. Or, in this case, a lance as the technique was the Lightning Lance. Clearing his mind and emptying his emotions, Zuko pushed nearly all of his chi into his hand and held it there letting the power build up. Within a few seconds his hand began to look like it _was_ lightning. '_Please let this work,_' begged Zuko. The longer the fight was drawn out the stronger Aku would be come and the weaker they would become.

With the technique ready Zuko shot back down to the battle ground, closing in on Aku faster than the spirit was charging the others. At the last possible moment Zuko struck, striking harder than ever before.

* * *

Barely from the top of her eyes, Jin noticed a flash as she watched Aku charge. Thinking quickly, the earthbender raised a high strong barrier in front of herself and Yue; just as the explosion hit and everything behind the barrier lit up in a blood red light.

* * *

On the Great Wall a lone guard named, Aadil, watched in a mixture of fascination and dread as the center peak of the Pharaoh Mountain Range suddenly glowed in a bright unholy red light. "Spirits! What was that?" he exclaimed, as he pulled out his telescope to try and get a better look. However, he was unable to see anything as the light was dying behind the mountain. "The general will want to know about this," Aadil said to himself and took off running for the general's bunker.

* * *

Aku screamed in pain as his was ripped apart. Pain, he hadn't felt pain in so long that he had forgotten the sensation. This human was good, he would admit to that and as a reward the firebender would die first. With the firebender killed the others wouldn't be able to kill him.

* * *

As the light died and sound returned, Jin lowered the barrier of earth. Jin and Yue saw Aku on the ground; whether the spirit was dead or alive was unknown to them. To the right of them, they saw Zuko standing on shaky legs; his entire right sleeve was shredded. Seeing them, the Champion of Fire slowly stumbled over to them.

"What in spirit's name was that?" Yue asked in a shock filled voice.

"Something that I need to work on some more, as that nearly killed me," replied Zuko with a grin.

"THEN THIS WILL KILL YOU, YOU SHITTY HUMAN," yelled Aku as he raised himself up to his knees and left hand. He thrust out his right clawed hand and shoot out a tendril. The tip hardened to form a deadly killing strike.

Everything around him moved in slow motion as he saw the tendril approach, but was unable to move himself or even try to defend himself. As the tendril closed in, Zuko felt his body being pushed away. He looked to his left to see, the girl who had come to mean everything to him push him out of the way and receive the blow herself. "JIN!" Zuko screamed in rage as time sped up once more and Jin was forced back by the blow and was slammed into a boulder. Turning to Yue, Zuko shouted, "Throw me!"

"What?" Yue yelled back not understanding and in shock at the fate of Jin.

"Throw me at Aku, now damn it," Zuko quickly clarified.

Not even bothering to question it, Yue used her bloodbending and launched Zuko straight at Aku's head as fast as she could.

As he sailed through the air, Zuko coated his hands in blue fire as he brought them in front of him. Slamming full force into the malevolent spirit Zuko's hands seared in pain as he grabbed the fire that was Aku's eyes and bent them to his will.

"You think you can kill me you pathetic human?" Aku rasped as he felt his energy disperse.

"Yes," growled Zuko savagely. He would have no mercy for this monster. It had killed Jin, the first person to truly know him as Zuko the person and not Zuko the prince or Zuko the traitor. This monster would die with Shkiit and then he would mourn. With a yell of rage, Zuko tore his hands away; extinguishing the fire that was Aku's eyes and life force.

"Y-you've killed me," rasped the dying voice of Aku. "This cannot be. No human should be able to overcome me."

"It is Aku," Zuko said without pity.

"Well then, you will find Shkiit at the abandoned Bay Warehouse at the city's Harbor District," Aku informed the ender of his long existence. "It's the one with the muilti-tiled roof."

"Why tell me that?"

"I'm about to cease to exist. What do I care, what happens to the Masters' pet?" Aku said. Before anymore could be said, Aku's body burst, sending a ripple throughout the space of reality.

Looking at the area where Aku's body had been one last time, Zuko then turned around to go to Jin; praying that she had been able to hold on long enough to say good-bye.

* * *

So this was it? Her life was going to end at the ripe old age of sixteen as she died to save her boyfriend. Well, she had lived a full life. Sure she never got to travel past the city walls since she arrived, let her business take off, get her own house, quit working for Madame Xao, become more intimate with Zuko, or even get the chance to tell her parents good-bye. But hey, it was a full life. Now she could in brace the sweet rapture of death and go on into the afterlife. It wouldn't be so bad…grandma and grandpa would be there, everyone who died from the pirate attack on her home village would be there too, and so would Maki and her family. All that was left was to get through the coming pain before finally dying. …Speaking of pain, where was it? Being pierced straight through your chest should hurt a lot and not feel like pins and needles of paresthesia8.

Jin slowly opened her left eye and saw the star filled sky above her. Opening both eyes she took in a careful breath and winced slightly as her chest constricted in slight pain. '_I'm alive,_' she slowly realized. Unable to stop herself and not knowing why, Jin began to giggle uncontrollably.

"I don't see what's so funny," a voice spoke from in front.

Turning her head, Jin saw Yue approaching her. "Sorry," replied Jin. "I was just surprised to discover that I was alive. What happened?"

"Zuko was able to put out Aku's life force and now the monstrous is dying." Yue informed her. At that moment, Aku's body burst; existence forever gone.

As Zuko turned around, Jin slowly and carefully got to her feet. "Jin?" Zuko called, disbelief filling his voice. As Jin nodded her head to confirm that it was her and that she was alive, Zuko increased his speed until he embraced her firmly in a hug and passionately kissed her.

Hearing Yue cough to the side the two broke apart; their faces aglow with blushes. "Jin, how did you survive?" Zuko asked, curious as he had been so sure that she was indeed dead.

"I'm not so sure about that myself," she replied honestly. Looking down she noticed a cut in her shirt from where the tendril stabbed at her. Taking one of Yue's knives, she gently and carefully cut up. Once it was cut, Jin pushed the edges away and the three champions gasped at what they saw. On Jin's chest just above her cleavage, was an off-white protrusion that was five inches across and four inches tall. Carefully, reaching forward, Yue touched the foreign thing and realized what it was.

"Jin, that's bone," Yue told Jin and a surprised filled voice.

"How do you know that/it's bone?" Jin and Zuko asked together.

"Living in the Northern Water Tribe, I've seen enough bones to recognize them," explained Yue. "Jin I think you somehow subconsciously bone-bent your own bones to form a protective armor that saved your life."

"How?" Jin asked wide-eyed.

"I do not know." Yue replied shaking her head.

"Is there any way to remove it?" Zuko asked.

"If Jin could recall how she did it, it would just be a simple process of reversing it," replied Yue. "However she doesn't, so we need to get to the Chamber so I can use my healing spirit water and carefully pry that off."

"We need to move fast," Jin suddenly cried. "It looks like our fighting attracted some attention. I feel at least fifteen people on their way here now."

"I'll get us back," Yue said and quickly bent her water around their feet. They were anchored in place as a platform of ice formed underneath them and lifted them into the air.

"Wait," Jin said right as Yue was about to take off. She looked back at the tree of corpses and said, "I want you to burn it, Zuko."

"Are you sure?" Zuko asked as he followed Jin's gaze.

"Yes. No one should have to see that horror and those that were killed don't deserve to be left like that," she replied.

Nodding his head, Zuko thrust his hand forward; releasing a powerful stream of blue fire and incinerated the tree. Right before they took off, Zuko made sure to extinguish the fires; leaving behind nothing but burnt earth. Jin shifted the earth to cover up the burn marks. It would do them any good, for the soldiers to start think that the city was under attack.

Yue lifted them high into the sky and carried them away unseen.

* * *

Looking around they saw nothing. This was nothing on the plateau that looked like it would cause the city any problems. After all, it was nothing but earth and rocks; and there was plenty of that in the city already.

"Looks like we we were sent on nothing but a wild Duck-Goose chase, by General Sung all because he had to listen to that overly-paranoid idiot, Aadil," growled the leader of the small group of soldiers. "Come on, lets get back to the bunks and back to bed. We're missing sleep."

The guards began the long trek back to the Great Wall, each of them annoyed at having been ordered to suit up for nothing.

* * *

"Do you think you can remove it?" Zuko asked Yue, following her as she went to get a vial of spirit water from her room in the chamber.

"It won't be easy, but I believe I can." Yue replied as she picked up one of the vials of spirit water.

"Alright then, I wish you the best of luck then," Zuko said and began to head for his own exit to from the Chamber.

"Where are you going?" Yue asked before Zuko was even able to get two steps away. "Aren't you going to stay here and watch over Jin?"

"Aku told me that Shkiit is at the abandoned Bay Warehouse in the Harbor District. I made a promise that that monster would die this night." Zuko replied. "Now go help Jin."

'_Shit,_' Yue thought as she watched Zuko walk away. Zuko would need help, but Jin needed her help more at the moment. Acting quickly she ran over to the table where Jin was lying down.

"Where's Zuko?" Jin asked her.

"It seems that right before he died, Aku told Zuko where he could find Shkiit. Zuko is now on his way there to his promise to you."

"WHAT?" Jin exclaimed as she tried to sit up.

"Oh no, you don't." Yue said gently pushing Jin back down. "We need to work on healing you first."

"Fine, let's get to it, then."

"I want you to very carefully use your bone-bending to slowly break the bone on your chest apart from the bones that it is attached to in your body," Yue explained to Jin. "While you're doing that, I'm going to work on healing the area on any injuries."

Jin nodded her head and looked down at the bone on her chest. Reaching up with her left hand, she grasped the edges of the bone. Closing her eyes she began to concentrate on breaking the bone as she pulled it away from her body. While Jin did this, Yue focused her healing abilities into the spirit water and held it firmly over the area. After a moment a distinct cracking was heard and Jin's eyes snapped open as she began screaming in pain. Even though she was in pain, Jin didn't stop pulling.

'_Will this night ever end?_' Yue thought after another yell from Jin. She just prayed that things were going well for Zuko.

* * *

Emerging from his exit/entrance to the Elemental Chamber Zuko began to push his inner fire out from his feet, launching himself into the air. He know that after using the Lightning Lance, and the effort it took to overpower Aku's fire, that he shouldn't be over-exerting himself. But Zuko would be damned if he let this monster live. Blazing across the sky, Zuko saw the warehouse and shot right for it.

* * *

It was over. It had only taken them two minutes to completely remove the bone and heal any damage, but what any intense two minutes they had been. Now, Jin's chest was bone free without so much as a single blemish.

"Let's go help Zuko." Jin said as she started to get up from the table.

"I don't think so," Yue said stopping Jin in her tracks.

"Why not?"

"After what happened to you, you need to rest and recover. As your healer, I'm ordering you to rest," replied Yue sternly. Seeing Jin's angered look, she said softly, "As your friend, I'm going to bring your boyfriend back."

Knowing she couldn't argue the healer, Jin replied with a sigh, "Fine." She then sat down for the wait as Yue ran to the exit to catch up to Zuko.

* * *

After having smashed through the wall to enter the warehouse, Zuko was met with a surprise. While the outside looked like a warehouse, the inside was designed like an apartment complex. As moonlight filled the room, Zuko could see that there was nothing in the hallway. Walking down the hall, he began searching through the place with vigor.

He went from room to room and saw nothing. Four floors of nothing, that is. It wasn't until he reached the fifth and final floor that the scene changed. At the end of the long hallway a door was ajar with a faint light emanating from it. With great caution, Zuko approached the door ready to strike, pushing the door open he saw a bald headed man with his back to him. On either side of the man, two faintly burning candles stood.

"Aku failed." Said the man; as a statement.

"Yes and now you die, monster," growled Zuko.

"Tell me, Prince of Fire, you're not afraid of the dark are you?" Shkiit asked. At that moment, the candles were snuffed out sending the room into darkness.

Zuko shot his hand out releasing a powerful burst of fire. At that moment two things happened; Zuko discovered that Shkiit was no longer in the room with him and the stone walls broke down into sand and latched onto his burst of fire snuffing it out. Zuko shot out some fire a few more times and each time the fire was extinguished by the sand. '_Looks like I'm fighting blind,_' Zuko thought to himself, realizing he would need something more than his firebending. '_Good thing I trained for this then._' Closing his eyes, Zuko slipped into his Heat Vision sight. Seeing the world around him caused Zuko to raise an eyebrow. Everything around him was dark blue and purple, the colors of coldness. Without making fire Zuko increased the heat of the air in the room; effectively giving him a double sense. He could see the area around him and if anything within the heat moved, he'd be able to tell right where it was.

At that moment, a spear of earth shot out from the wall behind him an incredible speeds. With his Heat Vision, Zuko was able to see the spear coming and dove to the left. Unfortunately, the spear was moving faster than he could dodge and as a result the sharpened tip snagged the fabric of the hood, tearing it away. Zuko was unable to contemplate the significance of having been so close to nearly getting head impaled; for at that moment several more spears shot out from the walls. Keeping with the momentum of his body, Zuko just kept moving as fast as he could; ducking, diving, weaving, and dodging his way from certain death.

Zuko had used up a lot of his strength in the past hour and as a result was starting to slow down. So it didn't come as a great surprise when the earth rose up and captured his hands. Zuko's hands were forced straight out to his sides and down; forcing him to his knees. With his Heat Vision still in use, Zuko watched as Shkiit emerged up through the floor. Zuko was breathing hard as Shkiit leaned in close and whispered to him.

"I'm going to kill you. Then cook you and feed you to your whore."

Despite being trapped, Zuko tried to lunge at the man. But it was to no avail. Zuko canceled his Heat Vision and opened his eyes; if he was going to die he would die staring right at his murderer. Through the darkened shadows of the room, Zuko watched as a large spear of earth formed in the air next to Shkiit.

"And now, you die," Shkiit said as he raised his hand and motioned the spear back.

"NOOOOO!" Screamed the familiar voice of Yue; loud and savage like.

With his eyes wide Zuko watched as for but a hair of a moment, Shkiit's neurocranium9 expanded; right before it exploded as it was unable to contain the swelling of Shkiit's brain that was done by Yue. The spear of earth fell to the ground with a clash and the earth holding Zuko's hands crumbled.

Turning around Zuko said, while lighting a small fire in his hands, "Thanks for saving me, Yue." Sadly, his was met with Yue's right fist smashing into his left cheek; sending him to the ground. "What was that-" he tried to ask, but was quickly interrupted.

"SHUT UP!" Yue roared. "Do you have any idea of the stupidity of your actions?" Before Zuko could even reply, Yue replied for him, "Shut up! After nearly losing Jin, you stupidly run off to fight a master earthbender; while in a weakened condition. And all because you made a promise. There's a difference in keeping your promises and just going Hog-Monkey shit stupid. If you ever do something as stupid as this again, I will beat you into submission. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah," Zuko replied as he stood up.

"Good," Yue said with a nod of her head. As Zuko lit a fire once more, they both turned to see the headless body of Ba Sing Se's greatest monster. "By the way, you're welcome," Yue said softly. "If anyone asks, you killed him. Got that?"

"Got it," replied Zuko; shooting his hand forward and releasing a blast of blue fire to burn Shkiit's body to ash.

"Good," Yue replied with a nod of her head. "Now it's been a very stressful couple of hours, so here's what we're going to do. I'm going to heal you and then go home. You on the other hand are going to go back to the Elemental Chamber get Jin and walk her home."

Nodding his head tiredly, Zuko stepped close to allow Yue to start her healing process. Never before had he ever come so close to dying or seeing someone he loved killed. Sure, Zuko greatly loved his Uncle Iroh, but it was vastly different with Jin. There was something there that had never been there before and he would make the entire planet suffer if only to protect it.

* * *

Nearly twenty minutes later, Zuko and Jin were slowly walking down the quite empty streets of the Lower Ring as they neared Jin's house. The couple walked in silence as they wrapped their arms around each other's waists. They had nearly lost each other twice that night; now they just wanted to be close to each other. Stopping in front of Jin's house, they held each other close as lips touched in a passionate kiss; Zuko, feeding from the sweetness of her mouth and Jin, capturing his mouth with a hungry urgency. Jin moaned softly at the sweet invasion of Zuko's tongue in her mouth. After several minutes they broke the kiss, their lips wet and swollen. Jin leaned her head against Zuko's chest as her breathing was labored.

"Zuko, could you stay the night with me?" Jin asked in gasps as her breathing returned to normal.

Pausing for only a second, Zuko replied, "Sure."

With her eyes full of surprise, Jin earthbent them under the door and carefully the young couple walked up to Jin's room. Walking into the room, they closed the door behind them. Turning to Zuko she asked, "Do you mind," pointing to some nearby candles.

With a wave of his hand, Zuko shot out a few small flares each one of them lighting the candles.

"I need to change," Jin said with a blush.

With reddened cheeks of his own, Zuko turned around to give Jin her privacy. He was facing her dresser, looking at all the interesting things she had. Jin had a few rings, a small jewelry box, a couple of necklaces, and a few well preserved hand drawn sketches of what Zuko assumed were her family. As he stood, Zuko noticed the movement on the wall and shifted his gaze to see Jin's shadow as she took off her shirt. He watched in silent fascination as her hands reached up to her well-defined, heavy, round, magnificent breasts and fondled them gently. The hands lifted the breasts up and dropped them. Zuko watched as the shadow of Jin's breasts jiggled and bounced as they were captured by the effects of gravity.

'_She's doing this to me on purpose, isn't she?_' Zuko thought in a deadpanned voice. Zuko wasn't an idiot, he wanted her. He wanted Jin so bad he could taste it. But it wasn't time. With the emotional effects of the past couple of hours it wasn't the time for them to become one. If they made love this night, they might regret it later. But soon, soon he would have her. Either that, or Jin would rape him; whichever came first.

Zuko looked away from the shadow and a couple of minutes later heard Jin say, "You can turn back now." Zuko turned around to see his love, lying in her bed with a simple, low neck, white shirt on; giving him a full view of her cleavage. Zuko took off his shoes, removed his shirt, and dropped his pants, leaving him in only his underpants; all the while Jin's gaze was fixed on him. Gathering up his clothes, he placed them in a neat pile to the side. Zuko climbed into the bed as Jin motioned for him to lie next to her.

Jin scooted closer as Zuko pulled the blanket over them. She rested her head on his scarred chest and sighed in content. She watched as Zuko waved his hands and the candles went out. It was there in the darkness of her room, cuddling with her boyfriend that Jin spoke, "I love you, Zuko."

"I love you too, Jin," Zuko whispered through the darkness.

The young couple closed their eyes, letting the sweet embrace of a peaceful sleep claim them.

**

* * *

**

Next Chapter: Tales of Ba Sing Se

**There you have it folks the long awaited release of chapter eight. I hope you enjoyed reading it and please leave a review. As always feel free to ask me any questions you may have about the story.**

**Footnotes:**

**1) Yes, that is Aku from '**_**Samurai Jack**_**'. There were some obvious differences though, for him to fit into the story. Mostly, he's in it cause I'm a fan of Mako.**

**2) It is a natural size. Get over it.**

**3) Yes, it's Madame Macmu-Ling from the '**_**Tales of Ba Sing Se**_**' episode.**

**4) Since the flow of time was never discussed in any great detail in cannon, I made up my own.**

**5) There's a rumor that, that was done in some countries centuries ago.**

**6) Decmen are kind of like the Heartless's Neo-Shadows.**

**7) A sor-crafter is a crafter of sorcery.**

**8) That's a fancy way of saying numb.**

**9) The neurocranium is what holds your brain in.**

**Please leave a review.**


	9. Tales of Ba Sing Se

**Spirits' Creed**

**Chapter 9: Tales of Ba Sing Se**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender**

**A/N: This chapter is a collection of one-shots showing what is happening to everyone over the several weeks of their stay in Ba Sing Se.

* * *

**

_**The Tale of Meeting the Parents**_

As light of the morning sun slowly filled the room, Jin opened her eyes. As her senses returned to her Jin's eyes widened as she felt a heavy weight on her chest accompanied with wetness. Looking down, Jin saw that Zuko's head had found itself between her breasts. Realizing what the wetness was, Jin's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. '_He's drooling on me,_' she thought to herself. '_Well, mom always did say that if a guy drools on you in his sleep it means he's comfortable with you. I wonder if Zuko feels comfortable with me?_' Reaching down Jin softly rubbed Zuko's muscled back, running her hands over the scars on his back.

At that moment a groaning was heard coming from Zuko's lips as he began to awaken. For a moment he turned his head this way and that, until realization settled in and his face snapped towards the direction of Jin's.

"Zuko, I never knew you were so forward," Jin said teasingly as she noticed the growing redness on her boyfriend's cheeks. She pulled him closer to her, capturing his lips with hers in a passionate kiss.

It was at that moment that a crash was heard coming from Jin's doorway. The two snapped their heads towards the door so fast that their necks popped. Standing in Jin's doorway was a girl a couple of years younger than Jin herself and looked remarkably like Jin too. She was wearing a large dark green tunic, most likely her sleepwear, and at her bare feet was a bowl of what looked like porridge. Time seemed to stand still as the young girl gazed at them with wide surprise-filled eyes. The girl then took off like a Fox Antelope; running down the hall while screaming, "JIN HAS A BOY IN BED WITH HER!"

Pushing Zuko off of herself, Jin used her earthbending to quickly shut the door while saying, "Shit! Lin's seen us." She turned back to Zuko, who was busy putting his pants on, and hissed, "You've got to get out of here now!"

"I'm dressing as fast as I can," Zuko argued back.

"No. Now," Jin replied as she hurriedly shoved the rest of Zuko's clothes into his hands. Jin pushed her window up and with a quick kiss to the cheek proceeded to throw her boyfriend out her window; the window on the third floor of her house that is.

Jin drew the curtains closed just as her mother and father burst through the door. She quickly spun around facing her parents and said nervously, "Hey mom."

"Don't you '_hey mom_' me, young lady," replied Xain with narrowed eyes.

'_Oh crap,_' Jin thought as she laughed nervously.

asdfg

Zuko sighed as he walked down the darkened street to Jin's house. Earlier that day, Jin had stopped by the tea house to ask him to have dinner at her house and met her parents. At first he wasn't too thrilled with the idea of meeting her folks; mostly because she _had_ thrown him out a third story window. However, he relented and agreed to meet her parents as she had already met his uncle and it was only fair that he now meet her parents.

Stopping in front of the door to Jin's house, Zuko quickly gave himself a look over. His clothes were mostly the same from his first date with Jin. The only real difference was the long-sleeved shirt under the dark green vest. On the date, the shirt had been a lighter shade of green; but now, it was white along with the sash Zuko was wearing as a belt. Seeing that everything was in place, Zuko knocked firmly on the door. A moment later the door was answered by Jin.

"Oh good, you're here," Jin said as she hugged Zuko.

"Well I said I would come," replied Zuko as they broke the hug and walked inside.

"I know. It's just I've been nervous about this whole night," Jin replied as she shut the door. "Luckily, my parents sent all of my siblings to their rooms, so it will just be the three of us."

"Hey don't worry about it. It will just be a simple dinner. Nothing will go wrong." Zuko said as he pulled Jin closer to him and kissed her softly on her lips.

The two were interrupted by the sound of forced coughing coming from the entryway of the small hallway. The two sprang apart and looking down the hallway, Zuko saw that there was a man looking at them both, him in particular. Zuko realized that this man must be Jin's father, Koto. Koto was vastly different from how Zuko had imagined him. Most Earth Kingdom men, Zuko had noticed, were either tall or very muscular and Koto fit neither of those descriptions. Koto was only a few inches taller than Zuko himself and appeared to be of an average build.

"I take it you are the, _Lee_, my daughter so highly speaks of?" Koto asked with a raised eyebrow.

Mentally arching an eyebrow at the use of his fake name, Zuko replied, "Yes, I'm Lee. You must be Jin's father, Koto."

"I am," replied the older man.

Stepping forward Zuko extended his arm to shake the man's hand. Surprised at not having his hand crushed in Koto's grip, Zuko took this as a good sign.

Turning to Jin, Koto said, "Your mother has nearly finished making dinner. So, come on to the table."

Walking a little slower than normal, Zuko whispered into Jin's ear, "What did you tell them about me?"

"Well they know that I'm the Earth Champion, so I told them that you are the Fire Champion and that your name is Lee," replied Jin.

Zuko nodded his head as they sat down at the small wooden table. Jin sat next to him and her father across from him. A moment later the door, to what was most likely the kitchen, opened and a tall woman stepped through carrying a large roast. "Oh hello, you must be Lee," said the woman as she carried the roast to the table. "I'm Jin's mother,-"

"Xain Ansatsu-sha," Zuko spoke interrupting her.

Jin and Koto were both surprised at what Zuko had said. Koto was surprised that someone knew his wife's maiden name and Jin for her boyfriend already knowing her mother's name. However, both of them were nowhere near as surprised as Xain herself was. In fact, she was so surprised that a small trace of fear could be seen in her eyes.

Not thinking anything of it, Zuko turned his head to Jin and said, "Jin you never told me your mother was from the Fire Nation."

This time, Zuko's statement got a reaction as Xain dropped the pot holding the roast onto the floor.

"WHAT?" Jin yelled in surprise.

"Listen here young man, my wife is not from the Fire Nation," Koto said in a deadly tone. He may not be a fighter like his eldest child, but he would be damned if someone slandered his family in their own home.

"You don't hear her denying it though," Zuko replied to Koto.

Both Koto and Jin's eyes went wide as Zuko had a point. They both turned to look at Xain who was looking at Zuko with wide fearful eyes.

"How do you know who I am?" Xain asked him. Jin's mouth dropped in shock; her mother was from the Fire Nation.

"Nearly everyone in the Fire Nation knows who you are," Zuko replied. "Even though you never technically did anything illegal it is well known that if anyone should bring you to the Palace, that they will find a large bag of gold pieces from Fire Lord Ozai soon in their possession. He took it very personal when you decided that you'd rather run than marry him."

Jin's eyes grew wide, once more, at what Zuko had said. Her mother was supposed to have married the Fire Lord, Zuko's own father?

Koto stared at his wife and asked in a low voice, "Is this true?"

With tears in her eyes Xain turned to her husband and wordlessly nodded her head. It was true. For seventeen years she had kept it hidden, she had never suspected that her secret would come to light. As her husband stood up and walked into their bedroom, slamming the door behind him, her heart broke.

'_Oh crap,_' Zuko thought to himself at the way everything had played out. He had honestly thought that both Jin and her father would have known about Xain's past when he saw her. '_Being a homewrecker is not the kind of impression I wanted to make._' Zuko turned to Jin and asked, "You and your father really had no idea about your mother being from the Fire Nation?"

"No," replied Jin straining to keep the anger out of her voice.

Looking at the bedroom door, Zuko said, "I'm going to talk to your father."

"And do what? Make it worse?" Jin asked him.

"I messed this up, so now I'm going to fix it," replied Zuko as he stood up. "You help your mom," he added as he walked away.

Jin stared after him and watched as he entered her parents' bedroom. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Jin stood up and walked over to her mother who was leaning against the table and crying. Not knowing what else to do, Jin wrapped her arms around her in a comforting hug.

"Jin?" Xain questioned in disbelief as she was sure her daughter wouldn't want anything to do with her now.

"Yeah, it's me mom," replied Jin. "This doesn't change anything to me. You're still my mom."

Xain embraced her daughter in a loving hug, happy that her daughter still saw her as a mother.

"Now, how did all of this happen?" Jin asked her.

"When I was fifteen my father had a meeting with Fire Lord Azulon…"

asdfg

Zuko stared around the room watching Koto pace back and forth as he muttered angrily to himself. "I cannot believe her. Seventeen years I was with her and not once did she ever think to mention to tell me something as important as this. That bitch." Zuko slightly rolled his eyes at Koto's muttering. The man did have a right to be upset, but he was starting to let his anger cloud his judgement.

'_Well, time to bring him to focus,_' Zuko thought to himself as he stepped forward. He grabbed Koto's shoulder and spun the man around. Before anything could be said, Zuko slugged him across the face. "Are you thinking a bit more clearly now?" Zuko asked him.

"What was that for?" Koto growled out. He would say this for the kid; he had a mean right hook.

"It was to get you thinking straight," replied Zuko. "Do you even hear what you're saying?"

Koto stood silent as the younger man's words sunk in.

"Look," began Zuko, "I won't pretend to know how you feel. But I do know that you cannot have eight children with someone and not know who they are. So what if she is from the Fire Nation? This will not change who she is. She is still the same woman who bore your children, who warms your bed at night just as you warm hers."

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Koto hung his head down in defeat. "You're right kid," he replied in a low voice. "But I just can't help to ask myself if she married me solely to hide from possible bounty hunters from the Fire Nation."

"She's from the Fire Nation and I'm from the Fire Nation. Believe me when I say this, if she really thought that; she would have been gone long ago," replied Zuko. "Your wife is here for you. But, why not talk to her about this?"

"Yeah." Koto said as he looked up. "Listen could you ask Xain to come in here? I know we were supposed to get to meet you tonight, but we need to sort this out first. For now, you have my permission to date my daughter."

"Thank you," Zuko replied as he exited the room.

Going back into the living room, Zuko saw both Jin and her mother deep in a conversation with each other. They stopped their talk as they heard him approach. Looking Xain in the eyes Zuko said, "Your husband would like to speak with you in your bedroom."

"Is he angry?" Xain asked as she stood.

"He's not angry, but he wants to know why you did this and if you married him solely to hide from the Fire Niation," replied Zuko.

Nodding her head Xain went into the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

"So what did you and my Dad talk about?" Jin asked, as she began to clean.

"I mainly got him to calm down and look at this logically. Your mother is still his wife even if she is from the Fire Nation. That has changed nothing." Zuko replied, before asking, "What did you and your Mother discuss."

"Oh, this and that," Jin replied with a shrug. "She told me why she fled the Fire Nation. I told her she would always be my mother, no matter what, and I also told her about Zena, Maro, and Kane being firebenders. She asked if I had any proof and I said yes. I asked if you could train them and mom said she'd talk to Dad about it."

"You want me to train your siblings?" Zuko asked in surprise.

"Yeah, you'll soon be training the girls so what are three more pupils for you," replied Jin.

Zuko shrugged his shoulders and went back to helping his girlfriend clean up the living room. Once they had finished Zuko said, "This has been a wonderful evening, but I need to get going."

"How was this a wonderful evening?" Jin asked as she walked Zuko to the door.

"Your Father gave me his permission to date you and neither of your parents killed me," Zuko replied.

Chuckling lightly at her boyfriend's reply, Jin leaned closer and shared a quick kiss good-bye before closing the door. Jin than blew out the candles and began to climb the stairs to settle in for the night. But she paused as she heard the sounds of gentle rhythmic thumping. Looking at the source of the noise, her parent's bedroom, she thought to herself, '_Damn, they made up quick._' Jin then rushed up the stairs to give them their privacy.

'_This has been one crazy evening,_' Jin thought as she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

_**The Tale of the Date**_

The music from the nearby band reverberated through the air as Yue twirled her arms in the air and rotated her hips. She had never been to club before in the Northern Water Tribe, but here in the Earth Kingdom she found herself quickly enjoying them. At the moment, Yue was hanging out with her coworkers Lieu and Nu; who knew her as Kimiko. The evening had progressed pleasantly. First they had a light dinner at a nearby restaurant and now they were dancing.

"Kimiko?" A voice called through the crowd. Yue looked around her and saw that it was her fellow Elemental Champions Jin and Zuko approaching her.

'_I wonder what they're doing here?_' Yue mentally asked herself. '_I had better use their alias since Jin used mine._' "Hey Taja, Lee. What are the two of you doing here?" Yue asked them.

"We're out celebrating," Taja replied. "I introduced Lee to my parents last night and they gave their blessing for us to date."

Kimiko congratulated both of them and introduced them to her coworkers. As the introductions between the five young adults ended, the music slowed down and all around them couples, and in some cases threesomes, were starting to slow dance. Glancing to her left Kimiko could see that Taja and Lee had already started to slow dance. Mentally shrugging to herself, Kimiko wrapped her arms around Lieu and Nu's waists and pulled them close to her.

As the three women danced together Kimiko gently rested her head against Lieu and Nu's forehead. '_This is great,_' Kimiko thought to herself as she closed her eyes letting the soothing melody of the music wash over her. '_This has been a wonderful way to relieve a lot of my pent up stress from the past couple of days. I feel so relaxed now. In fact, I fell so relaxed it almost feels like there are two soft supple pairs of lips tenderly kissing my own._' Kimiko opened her mouth and froze as realization, in the form two tongues rubbing her own, informed her that she wasn't imagining things. She snapped her eyes open to see that she was in the midst of an intense make-out with Lieu and Nu at the same time!

Kimiko quickly stepped away from both Lieu and Nu and sputtered, "What the? How the? Why?" I she looked back and forth between them. "I have to go," she finally gasped out and tore off in the direction of the women's room.

asdfg

"Is everything alright?" a voice asked from behind.

Lieu looked behind her to see Kimiko's friends Taja and Lee. "I don't think it is," replied Nu for the two of them.

"What happened?" Taja asked them.

Giving a small sigh, Lieu began to explain to them how both she and Nu had started to like Kimiko and how each wanted to pursue a relationship with her. However when they approached Kimiko, she decided to go out with both of them. So, the two waitresses had talked with each other and agreed that they were fine being in a polygamist relationship.

"Now I understand," Lee said with an understanding nod. "Taja you had better go talk to Kimiko. I'll explain it to them."

Taja quickly kissed her love good-bye and went off in search of Kimiko.

"Explain what to us?" Nu asked as Kimiko left.

"I don't know if Kimiko has told you or not, but she's from the Northern Water Tribe," Lee began as the three walked off the dance floor.

"So?" Lieu asked. To her it didn't matter where a person was from. Nu was from the Southern Earth Kingdom and she herself was from Western Earth Kingdom. Or, what had been the Western Earth before it was taken over by the Fire Nation.

"In the Northern Water Tribe, women do not date each other. Nor, or there any relationships beyond that of two partners. So once she realized that the both of you were kissing her…"

"Oh crap," Lieu and Nu said at the same time.

"Come on. Let's go see if Taja has been able to get Kimiko to calm down," Lee said as he headed in the direction Taja had left.

asdfg

Rising through the floor, Taja watched as Kimiko paced back and forth in the women's room. "Kimiko," Taja called needing to get the woman's attention.

Kimiko stopped her pacing and turned to face the one who had spoken to her. "Oh hey," she said once she saw who it was.

"Are you okay?" Taja asked her.

"I'm fine," replied Kimiko. "In fact I'm great."

"Then what's bothering you?"

"It's about the kiss," Kimiko confessed.

"Is it because you feel wrong for kissing two girls and not a guy?"

"No, that's just it. I don't feel bad. Truthfully, I enjoyed the kiss and I want more," Kimiko said with gradually growing excitement. "I've only been kissed once and that kiss was just there. There was nothing special about it. Sure, it felt good, but I wasn't clambering for more. With Lieu and Nu's kiss it was different; the kiss was sweet and spicy. My world felt like it was erupting and I was glad it was."

"Then go and get some more," Taja told her.

"I can't."

"Why not," Taja asked thoroughly confused.

"I'm from the Northern Water Tribe. I can't be in a relationship with a woman; let alone two," explained Kimiko. "My dad would freak if he know of this."

"Kimiko, is your dad here?" Taja asked her friend.

The Water Champion shook her head negative. To which Taja replied, "Then who cares? Have the relationship you want to have. No one here is going to think differently of you."

Kimiko paused as she considered what Taja was telling her. Logically speaking, the earthbender was right. No one from home would ever have to know.

At that moment a knock was heard coming from the door and Lee's voice from the other side. "Taja is Kimiko in there with you?"

Taja looked at Kimiko waiting to see what the waterbender wanted to do.

"Let Lieu and Nu in," Kimiko instructed.

"Okay," replied Taja who went to the door and let the two women in, before exiting the room to rejoin her boyfriend.

Kimiko looked back and forth from Nu to Lieu a moment before speaking, "Did you both kiss me because you like me?"

"Yes," Nu replied monotonely.

"Yeah," agreed Lieu before adding, "Listen, we didn't know where you where from or that you felt that way-" The woman was quickly cut off by Kimiko, who spoke once more.

"That kiss was a new experience for me and I rather enjoyed it. I like both of you and I would like to try having a relationship with both of you," Kimiko explained.

With light blushes on their cheeks, Kimiko, Nu, and Lieu drew closer together; until the three of them were passionately kissing once more.

* * *

_**The Tale of the New Toys**_

"Have you finished your work on our new sets of armor?" Jin asked as she and Yue walked over to Zuko in the forge of the Elemental Chamber.

"Yeah," Zuko replied as he walked over to three covered tables. "Since mine was ruined in the fight with Aku and I needed to replace it, I decided to go ahead and redesign all of armors. I changed the color tones to green and white."

Zuko lifted up the sheet covering the first table, revealing the new robes. The style of their robes was similar to their old ones. The areas that had been black were now a dark green and the areas that had been green, blue, and red were now white to match the tunic worn under the robes.

"These look at lot like the robes of the Dai Li and what the students at Ba Sing Se University wear." Yue said as she lifted her own set of robes up; impressed with the work.

"I based their design off of a combination of both of those," replied Zuko as he moved to the second table and lifted up the sheet covering it. "To go along with the robes I redesigned the armor as well. The older stuff was good, but it wasn't very durable. So I crafted the new sets of armor in the style of the Fire Nation elite soldiers."

"This doesn't look like any of the armor I saw when the Fire Nation invaded the Northern Water Tribe," commented Yue as she picked up one of the greaves.

"The soldiers who invaded the Northern Water Tribe and the ones invading the Earth Kingdom aren't the elite soldiers," Zuko explained. "The Fire Nation is sending its' third, fourth, and fifth ranked soldiers. The second ranked soldiers are protecting the Fire Nation, should any armies invade. The first ranked soldiers, who are the nations' best of the best, are the elite soldiers. The armor they wear is built to be both lightweight and maneuverable; along with being able to handle most bladed weapons and fire blasts."

"How many elites are there?" Jin asked as she turned towards Zuko.

"I don't know how many there are, but it really depends on what class they are," replied Zuko. "The most well known are the Imperial Firebenders, who guard the Royal Family. There are also the Raiders and Berserkers. And there used to be the Immortal Guards."

"What happened to them," asked Yue.

"Fire Lord Sozin disbanded them for war crimes," replied Zuko.

"Hey Zuko, where are the vambraces?" Jin asked as she saw the armor for the forearms was nowhere to be seen.

"The vambraces are on the third table," Zuko replied as he moved towards the table. He continued to talk as he lifted up the sheet. "I took the design of Yue's hidden blades and adding in a couple of experimental Fire Nation weapons."

"What kind of weapons?" Yue asked as she picked one up.

"On the left vambrace I added the firearm that the Fire Nation soldiers are currently being equipped with and it also has the ability to shoot poison darts. On the right vambrace the only weapon is the hidden blade. However, to compensate for that vambrace there is a metal cestus which will make any punches we give much harder. Also, the armor of the vambrace may seem thicker, but that's because there are plates under it that when locked into place provide a miniature shield."

"How in the spirits did you come up with all of this?" Yue asked as she tried her vambraces on.

"During my time in exile, I would still receive updates on developments in the Fire Nation; everything from politics to weapons. And since I was often bored with nothing to do on the ship, I spent time working on perfecting building the weapons I read about. The last update I received was on the firearm and I had just finished building my own right before my ship blew up and I was declared a traitor. Now there is a limit to the firearms. These are only able to hold six bullets; while the ones that the Fire Nation soldiers are using are able to hold ten. To help with this I did some redesigning on the crossbow gauntlet I made and came up with these." Zuko gestured to the three crossbows next to the vambraces. "They're smaller than normal crossbows, faster loading, and they're quite for any silent kills that we may need to do. I also forged two straight swords for you both," Zuko said pointing to the swords next to the crossbows. "I'm not really one for making fancy designs in the blades, but they're just as strong and durable as what you'd get from a master."

"Impressive," Jin said as she looked over everything. "But what are these here at the end of the table?"

"These are the miscellaneous weapons I made," explained Zuko. "There's a metal whip for conducting my lightning attacks. A few maces, a sword with the dagger built in, smoke bombs, spears, more throwing knives, all sorts of daggers, and few chakrams."

"Shit Zuko, you've got us armed to the teeth," Yue commented with a chuckle.

"I'm not expecting us to use most of the weapons here, but I picked what should fit our styles best," replied Zuko.

"So, when do we try these things out?" Jin asked as she picked up her robes from the first table.

"Very soon," Zuko replied as he lifted up his armor. "With Aku and Shkitt both dead, we can now focus on taking down the Dai Li. I was looking at that list and gathering some information on a few of the names on it. Several of the agents are extortionist who are helping to keep this city oppressed. They need to die."

"I'm meeting with Madame Macmu-Ling soon. I'll see if she has anything for us," spoke Yue.

"It might also help to do away with some of the Dai Li watchtowers spread throughout the city," offered Jin.

"Let's do that then," Zuko said with a nod of his head. "Soon the sun will rise on a new Ba Sing Se."_**

* * *

**_

_**The Tale of Information**_

The shop was quite as Jung walked to the front door of her shop to put up the closed sign on her door. The young thirty-year-old woman had been open for many years selling clothing. But unlike other shops, her clothing was marketed at helping women spice up the bedrooms of their households. At first business had been slow, but soon a few women bought some items and the next thing she knew her business was booming. However, this lead to an unfortunate encounter. As it seemed that men really liked seeing women in the clothes she provided, she attracted the attention of Chin-Hwa, one of Long Feng's most ruthless agents. Chin-Hwa was in charge of the Breeding Houses for the Pap District. Because of him, Jung had been forced to provide clothes to make the women look more desirable.

For years she had done this and every day she grew more and more sickened by herself. But that was all behind her now for she had seen her last sunset and she would not see the sun rise. Tonight she was going to kill herself and end it all.

Suddenly, a strong hand came from behind and forced her mouth close. "Don't move." a voice from behind her growled.

'_Is this how it ends for me instead,_' Jung though in a panic. '_I'm going to be raped in my shop and killed._'

Her attacker spun her around while keeping his hand firmly on her mouth and Jung's eyes widened as she saw who her attacker was. The armor, the hood, and the unseen eyes under the hood; there was no mistaking it her attacker was one of the champions that the people were now whispering about. The people spoke of the champions with excitement and wonder in their voices. Many had thought that the Avatar would be the one to fight back against the Dai Li, but none had expected him to be a child more concerned about a lost pet that the oppression of the city's citizens. But hope did come in the form of these three warriors. They were ruthless, merciless, and just what the people needed. Their efforts were cheered by citizens from behind closed doors.

"If you scream, I'll kill you. Do you understand?" The champion asked her.

Jung shakily nodded her head and the champion removed his hand. "What do you want from me?" She asked in a terrified voice.

"I want to buy information from you," replied the champion. He placed a very full money bag in her hand. "There's a hundred and fifty gold pieces in that bag for the information and your silence."

"W-what do you want to know?"

"Tell me everything you know about Chin-Hwa."

"Are you going to kill him?"

"Yes," replied the champion.

At hearing his answer, Jung told him everything. From how they met and his forcing of her to do what she does to what he had to eat at the meeting they had two days ago at a restaurant.

"Thank you," replied the champion once she had revealed everything. As the champion turned to leave, he spoke once more, "If Chin-Hwa should be expecting me, I'll be back and I will kill you for your betrayal. Understand?"

Though the champion was not looking at her, she nodded her head in the affirmative and the champion left.

'_Maybe, I should see the sunrise tomorrow,_' Jung thought to herself with a small amount of an emotion she hadn't felt in a long time, hope.

asdfg

Macmu-Ling looked at the oafish boy in front of her with annoyance. How dare this fool insult the noble art of Haiku? She would step down for now and let the boy destroy himself.

As she went back to her seat, this Sokka of the Water Tribe started another one of his poor excuses of a Haiku and this time his final stance was six syllables and not the five it should have been. Macmu-Ling mentally laughed to herself as she watched with great satisfaction as her school security threw the boy from the building.

However, her laughter to herself was cut short as she noticed a shadow in her office. "I'm ending classes early today girls, you are all dismissed," Macmu-Ling said as she stood. Her students decided not to question their good luck and quickly left. "You may also leave, Chul-moo. I'll only be in my office for a moment before leaving myself." She said speaking to the security guard.

"Very well," the guard replied as he left to return to his home.

Macmu-Ling entered her office and firmly closed the door before locking it. As she turned around she was greeted with the sight of the water champion, Kimiko, standing before her. "Here is all of the information I was able to get," Macmu-Ling said as she pulled a small scroll out of her robes and handed it to Kimiko. "I don't know what the three of you are doing, but whatever it is it has Long Feng in an uproar. The three of you may want to stop bending too. There's a rumor among the Dai Li that he will soon start gathering up the city's Waterbenders and Firebenders to find you and Lee and use you both as bait to get Taja."

"Thank you for the information," replied Kimiko with a small nod of her head.

Macmu-Ling nod her head back in understanding and quickly left. She needed to return to the Palace before anyone suspected anything._**

* * *

**_

**_The Tale of Taja's Naughty Playground_**

Jin sighed to herself as she sat in her office going over applications of girls who wanted to work for her. After looking at the paperwork showing the customer flow, she had decided to hire more girls and sent word out. However, do to finances and the threat of unknown expenses; Jin would be hiring only six girls and not twelve.

The first thing she did was eliminate all of the applications with girls over the age of twenty-one. Jin had nothing against older women, but she didn't want to have anyone who was six years older than her working for her. Next, Jin eliminated all of the applications with girl being younger than fifteen. Finally, she began to read them and sort through them.

After hours of reading, she had settled on her six girls. '_I've got twins, a dominator, a dancer, and two maids,_' Jin thought to herself as she pulled the paperwork towards herself. "Time to interview them," she said allowed as she got up to leave and make appointments to meet the girls.

'_I wonder if Zuko would like to watch a dominator's performance,_' Jin thought perversely to herself. She certainly wouldn't say no to being put on display for her boyfriend.

* * *

_**The Tale of Zuko's Day Shopping**_

'_Okay, let me see I've got the fish, the greens, and the sides,_' Zuko thought to himself as he went over his metal checklist of the foods for his and his uncle's dinner. '_I guess that's everything._'

"Hey Lee," called a voice from behind. He didn't even have to turn around to see how it was, but as he did so he was greeted with the sight of his girlfriend, Jin, walking up to him. "What'd you get?" She asked.

"I bought what I need to make supper for Uncle and myself tonight," he replied.

"Looks good," Jin said as she peeked in the bag. "What else are you up to?"

"I'm just going to look around the bazaar and see if I find anything interesting," replied Zuko.

"Could you use some company?"

"I could always use your company, Jin."

The young couple grasped each other's hands as the quietly strolled through the market. They wandered from stall to stall looking at the items that were being sold. They looked at everything from dates and figs to pet monkeys and jewelry being sold. They were now at a stall that was selling music instruments. As they looked, one instrument caught Zuko's eye.

"Pardon me, but what is that?" Zuko asked the stalls owner as he pointed to the item behind the man. It looked similar to the pipa he used to play as a child, but the body was larger and the neck was shorter.

"That's a guitar," replied the man once he saw the item Zuko was pointing to. "It came out a few years ago and has been getting popular ever since."

"May I see it?" Zuko asked.

The man nodded his head and handed the instrument to Zuko.

Holding the instrument in his hands, Zuko was surprised at its weight. The instrument was a little heavy, but lighter than Zuko thought it would be. He plucked a couple of the strings and was pleased by its sound. "Do you have a book on how to play it?" Zuko asked the man.

"The man nodded his head and handed the book to Zuko.

In the end, Zuko bought the book and guitar both.

"Nice instrument," Jin said as she looked at the guitar.

"Thanks," replied Zuko. "Well I need to head back to the apartment Jin."

"Alright, I should head home to and check up on Zena, Maro, and Kane and make sure their doing their training."

"Have they been doing their breathing exercises?" Zuko asked as he had instructed the three young children to practice their breathing.

"Yeah and they aren't happy about it," replied Jin. "Once mom learned they need to practice breathing for better control, she decided to make sure they did it every day. All Zena, Maro, and Kane want to do is make flames."

"There won't be any flames until they can breathe correctly. They need proper breath control to control their flames. If they started really bending now, they'd set the house on fire."

Chuckling Jin replied, "Too true. Well, bye." Jin than gave her boyfriend a deep kiss, before letting go and heading towards her house.

Zuko walked towards his apartment with a smile on his face as another pleasant memory with Jin was made._**

* * *

**_

_**The Tale of the Art Shop**_

The late afternoon air was warm as Katara, Toph, and Aang walked down the streets of Ba Sing Se's Lower Ring; Sokka had opted not to join them as he wanted to wander around the Upper Ring. The three were actually on their way to an Art Shop that did sketches. Or, so they claimed in their leaflet.

"Are you sure this place can help us?" Aang asked Katara.

"Sure," replied Katara. "We ask if they can do sketches based on descriptions and get one of Appa, if thay can do it. From there, we get enough copies to cover the city."

"I just don't envy the person who has to tell Sokka that we aren't going to be letting him design the Appa poster," Toph commented.

"Sokka will get over it," replied Katara with a casual wave of her hand.

Unknown to the Waterbender, Toph arched an eyebrow at Katara's casual dismissal of her brother.

'There it is!" Aang cried aloud, spotting the Art Shop.

The building itself was simple in design. It was made of earth like all the other buildings in the Lower Ring and its roof was flat. On either side of the door there were to small wooden windows. As the three friends entered the shop two of them could see that the shop had several people in it, while the other one could feel them. Walking to the back of the shop's show room, Katara, Toph, and Aang went up to the man sitting behind the counter.

"Excuse me, but are you Tal?" Aang asked the man.

"Sure am, kid. What can I do for you?" Tal replied.

"I saw your leaflet about being able to do sketches and I was hoping to get one of my missing friend. However, I don't know if you do sketches on descriptions alone or not," replied Aang.

"Sure I can make you a sketch on description alone."

"Great," Aang said with a smile. "I'll also need one thousand copies made."

"I can make you the sketch kid, put you'll need to go to a Print Shop to get that many copies made."

"What's a Print Shop?" Katara asked having never heard of such a place.

"Print Shops do mass production of literature and any type of written word," Tal explained. "The way it works is like this, I'll make a sketch for someone. Then they, will take that sketch to a Metal Shop were a print copy of the sketch will be made. They will then take the print copy to a Print Shop. The Printers at the Print Shop will ink the copy up and put it to paper. The entire process can take a week and a half to do."

"That long?" Aang asked depressed.

"Sorry kid, but yeah." Tal answered.

"Well, let's get started then," Aang said. A moment later he was busy describing Abba to the artist in great detail.

As Aang talked, Katara wondered around the shop to look at all of the different artwork. There was everything from people to buildings to landscapes. After several minutes of looking Katara was near the end of her tour, which was just as well for Aang and Tal were finishing their business, when a piece caught her eye. It was a simple piece, just couple of different shades of green on paper. The captivating thing about the image was the three figures on it. '_These must be the champions,_' Katara thought to herself. From the little she could remember of the mysterious Earthbender, it looked very similar to that bender.

"What's this?" Katara asked aloud.

"That's a poster I designed for a client," replied Tal. "He's coming in tomorrow to pick it up."

"Why did he want one of those Champions done though?"

"Where have you been child?" Tal asked in a surprised voice. "The champions are the heroes of the Lower Ring. Practically everyone loves them."

"And what about those who don't?" asked Toph.

"They're the ones who've got something to lose if the Dai Li are thwarted," replied Tal.

"So what do they do?" Aang asked.

"They stop the Dai Li's oppression of the city's lower citizens by any means necessary," Tal replied.

The three friends were unsure what to make of what the artist had told them. It was good that the Champions were helping people, but just how far would they be willing to go? Would they be willing to kill? Aang, Katara, and Toph left the Art Shop in silence and quietly made their way back to the Upper Ring._**

* * *

**_

_**The Tale of Tasks**_

The wharf was quite as Yue navigated around the city's docks. The previous days had been difficult as the attacks by the Varsealm were increasing. So, it was nice to have some quite. As she walked, Yue stopped suddenly as she heard what sounded like crying. Following the noise she came across a young boy who looked to be seven years old. She walked up to him and asked gently, "Young man why are you crying?"

"They took my mommy away," replied the child through his tears.

"Who took her?"

"A man from one of the Dai Li's towers. He said she would be going on a boat and she would do as her new master ordered her to do. When he and the guards left with mommy, he said I would be going on the next boat. They scared me."

"They are scary aren't they? But, you are brave and strong."

"Yes," the child replied nodding his head. "Can you get my mommy back?"

"Yes," replied Yue. "Can you tell me where they took your mommy and the name of the man who took her?"

Once the child told Yue where they had dragged his mother off to, the man's name, and what he looked like, Yue sent the child off to hide as she hunted for the slave trader. Being careful not to attract any attention, Yue wondered the docks looking for the man who matched the child's description. After almost an hour of searching Yue finally saw the man and judging by his clothes it was easy to see that the man was a low ranking noble. Needing to find out where he was keeping the slaves, Yue silently followed him. For the next three hours Yue quietly shadowed the man. The only thing that stopped Yue from killing him outright was the fact that he wasn't going in circles, but it was getting harder and harder to resist.

Finally Yue's patience was rewarded when he went onto a ship. Getting to a higher viewpoint, Yue was able to look down and see guards patrolling the ship as well as the slave trader who was barking out orders. '_Hmm, there are only eleven of them. This should be easy enough,_' Yue thought to herself as she uncorked her waterskin. She separated the water into ten separate globs of water and sent them high into the air. Once each of them was above a guard, Yue formed them into deadly icicles and shot them down at the guards with such force that the icicles killed their targets on impact.

As the man looked around, trying to figure out what had happened to his guards, we never took notice of the figure leveling a crossbow at him and taking aim. So, it came as a great surprise when a bolt came whizzing out of the air and impaled him in the chest. He didn't even have a chance to cry out as his vision grew black and stayed black, for he was dead.

asdfg

After freeing the captives on the ship and sending the boy's mother off to find her child, Yue walked back into the city. She was soon joined by her partners and friends, Zuko and Jin. And as they walked down the streets, Jin noticed something. "It's quite."

"Yeah and it's nice to have some quite," Yue replied not seeing what was so important about it being quite.

"I mean it's to quite," Jin clarified. "This is the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se, there should always be some sort of noise going on."

As Yue stopped and listened she found that Jin was right, there really wasn't any noise being made around them. It was like the quite just before an attack or just before you killed. Before anymore could be said on the matter, several figures dropped down from the sky landing on the rooftops that surrounded them. It was easy to see that this figures were dangerous just by looking at them.

"Ninjas," Jin said as she looked at the figures. "Damn."

"What are ninjas?" Zuko asked his girlfriend. He had never faced such opponents before.

"They're the Earth Kingdoms version of Imperial Firebenders," replied Jin.

It was then that Zuko voiced what they were all thinking, "Crap."

* * *

_**The Tale of the Fall**_

"**Soon our forces will be ready,**" spoke the deep rumbling voice of one of the Varsealm's Masters.

"_According to plan, everything is going,_" replied the fellow Master.

"**With Aku's death the barrier has been steadily growing weaker. Once the barrier is weak enough, we will be able to send our stronger minions to decimate the Physical World.**"

"_AND FEAR WILL KNOW ALL!_"

The Masters laughed deeply at the stupidity of the humans; for everything was going just as they planned.

* * *

**Next Chapter: Higher State**

**That's all folks. Please leave me a review telling me what you think.**


	10. Notice

**Spirits' Creed**

**An important notice from the author**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender**

* * *

Greetings, to all the readers of Spirits' Creed, I'm sorry to say that this isn't a new chapter but a notice.

Recently, I was rereading this story and thinking that it could stand to be improved and go through a bit of a rewrite. The rewrite would affect all the chapters; there would be more chapters, they would be shorter, and have more detail in several of them. There would also be more scenes with the gAang, Dai Li, Spirits, and others.

Even though I know several of you would like a rewrite, I also know that several of you like the story the way it is. So, I've made a poll on my profile for readers to vote on wither or not this story gets a rewrite. So please vote everyone; as this will affect how often I'm able to release chapters over the summer.

* * *

**This notice will be removed when chapter 10 is complete. At the moment, the chapter is 40% completed and still on schedule to be posted in late May.**


	11. Higher State

**Spirits' Creed**

**Chapter 10: Higher State**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender**

* * *

Time seemed to slow as the Earth Kingdom Ninjas dropped from the rooftops they had landed on. Like leaves from a vine, they fell slowly. But they were not like fragile tiny shell; they were dangerous ruthless fighters. Everything from their straw hats to their armor to their visible weapons told Zuko to be on guard. Instincts told him these guys were far more dangerous than the Dai Li.

As soon as the Ninjas jumped at them, the Champions each raised their left arm and fired a bullet from their hidden firearm. Much to the Champion's surprise, the Ninjas had drawn their blades. Two of the Ninjas had deflected the bullets with their swords. The third one however was to slow and was struck in the throat; with a hole in his neck he began to choke to death on his blood.

'_That's one down,_' thought Zuko, '_now just eleven more to go._' With weapons at the ready by everyone the two groups charged.

* * *

Long Feng sat in front of his office's fireplace as he meditated breathing in and out slowly, trying his best to relax. But it was hard to do so, with enemies hiding in the shadows of the city, _his_ city. These Champions were quickly becoming a bigger thorn in his side than the foolish Avatar child. Unlike the Avatar, the Champions had no qualms about killing his agents he sent out to find them and watch them. He wasn't naive enough to believe that the people would reveal anything to him or the Dai Li; for they cheered the Champions' actions even if it was behind closed doors. However, unbeknownst to people, Long Feng had a trump card up his sleeve. When Kuei had become the Earth King at such a young age it was believed that the Earth Kingdom's strongest soldiers, the Ninja, had disbanded. In truth, they had not. Long Feng kept them running with his own special form of training, should he ever need their services and with the Champions' war on his Dai Li it was the perfect time to use them.

As it was well known that there were three Champions, Long Feng sent twelve Ninjas to find them. It shouldn't be too hard of a fix as it usually took a squad of Dai Li to handle one Ninja; there was no way three fighters could handle twelve fully trained Ninjas.

The door to his office banged open and a pair of rushed footsteps scurried to him. Before his interrupter could speak, Long Feng spoke first, "I am in the middle of meditating and waiting for a report."

"Sir, this is-" The Dai Li agent began and was quickly cut off.

"Whatever it is agent, it can wait until after I hear ninjas' report."

"It's about-"

"I don't think you understand me. It can wait until later. I am your commander and I have giving you an order. As one of the Dai Li agents, it is your responsibility to obey that order. That is what is known as, the Chain of Command. I give you an order and you follow that order. Understand?"

Without a word the agent bowed low and quietly left the room.

Once the agent was out of his office, Long Feng let out a small dramatic sigh and resumed his meditation in peace once more as he waited for the report from the Ninjas.

And waited…

And waited…

"Where are they?" Long Feng asked aloud in anger. For three hours he had been waiting for the report. "It shouldn't take them this long to find three people and kill them."

Angry at having been kept waiting so long, Long Feng stood up, intent on finding out what was keeping the Ninjas' report. He walked to his office's doors and flung them open. Seeing the agent he had dismissed hours before standing a few feet from his office, he asked the agent, "Do you know what is keeping the Ninjas?"

"That's what I was trying to tell you earlier sir," began the agent. "They won't be reporting in. They're dead."

"What?" Long Feng cried in alarm. "How is that possible?"

"One found with shattered chest armor and three two-foot long stakes of earth piercing his chest."

_The fire from his opponent burned fiercely at his armor, as soon as the fire died and intense coldness from the waterbender gripped him. As his heart beat erratically from the drastic temperatures and their changes, three two-foot long stakes of solid rock slammed into him; shattering his armor as they embedded themselves deeply into his chest._

"One with a sword wound through the armor."

_His opponent broke his sword, with his Dao swords. In one fluid movement, the blades were brought together as one and thrusted forward; the heat of the blade cutting through the armor. With the blades still in him, his opponent twisted hard before yanking his swords out. As he fell to his knees, his opponent reared his foot back and slammed it hard into his face._

"Three were found with their heads turned to a one-eighty degree of where they should have been."

_Just as they took their first steps forward towards the three hooded figures, they stopped as they felt the bones of their bodies were no longer under their control. Just as quickly, their heads were twisted until their necks snapped; killing them._

"One was found with what appears to be multiple knife wounds."

_He charged at her, sword at the ready. Just as he was mere feet from making the strike, something struck him in the arm, then in the legs, the chest, the arms, the thighs, and finally in his neck. All around him were throwing knives that were circling around him being stained red with his blood._

"One was found with what looks like the remains of a lightning strike."

_He had just pierced her arm with his sword when he felt it. The red lightning smashed into him with the force of the Great Wall of Ba Sing Se, every muscle in his body moving at uncontrollable speeds until they burnt themselves up._

"Two were found with the backs of their heads blown off."

_They had her trapped in their razor chains. All they had to do now was pull hard and she would be cut into several bloody pieces. Before they could even pull on the chains, they dropped them as an intense and painful pressure rapidly building up inside their skulls. A second later and the pain was gone; along with the back half of their heads too._

"One was discovered to be cleanly cut through five times."

_He jumped back avoiding both the spear of earth from the ground and the blast of fire. As he was in mid-air he was unable to avoid the high-pressure water that came at him and cut through him, not once but five times. His body fell to the ground in a bloody heap._

"And finally," said the agent winding down his report. "We found one who choked to death on his own blood due to this having somehow forced a hole through his neck." He pulled an object out of his pocket and held it out for the Grand Secretariat.

Long Feng picked up the object and looked at it. It was nothing more than a very small metal sphere and it wasn't even as big as his little finger's fingernail. How could something like this kill a person? "What is this?" He asked aloud.

"We aren't sure sir," replied the agent. "But we believe that it may be part of a weapon as we found it in the hole that was formed in the Ninja's neck. Also sir, we found this at the scene." The agent handed him a small scroll with the words '_To Long Feng_' written on it.

Long Feng took the scroll, unrolled it and read the simple one sentence message, _Better luck next time._ Long Feng's eyes narrowed in rage as he crushed scroll; they were mocking him. He'd find a way to silence these _Champions_ if it was the last thing he ever did.

* * *

"How are you feeling, Yue?" Jin asked as she and Zuko carried her down the stairs to the Elemental Chamber between them.

"Well, let's see," began Yue in a pained voice. "We nearly had our asses handed to us and I have a piece of steel going through my arm. I'm feeling great, why do you ask?"

"Don't need the lip," replied Jin as Zuko opened the door for them.

They quickly sat Yue down and began the process of healing her arm. As Jin carefully pulled the steel out, Yue used her waterbending to stop the blood flow and numb the arm. Zuko quickly followed the removal of the blade with his healing green fire. It took the three several minutes to heal Yue's arm, but once they were done there was not even a scar on her arm. Yue stood up from the chair and began to lightly stretch her arm to see if there was any pain. To everyone's relief there wasn't any.

"We are glad to see that the three of you have been fairing well." Spoke a voice from behind them.

The three young adults turned to see that standing behind them were the Elder Spirits to each of their bending elements.

"Elders," replied the Champions with a bow of their heads.

"I wish we were here on a pleasant note, but sadly we are not," began Kiirojimen.

"Over the past several weeks each of you have grown stronger and stronger. However ever since your defeat of Aku, we have felt the Varsealm growing stronger." Said Akaimizu. "With Aku the three of you were lucky to defeat him. While it is highly unlikely that you would be facing anyone as strong as him again, it is very probable that you will be facing an overwhelming amount of opposition from the remaining forces. You have all seen the growing number of spirit monsters with each attack. Where Aku was only one, there will now be hundreds."

"For this reason we have decided that each of you need to take your strength to the next level," Finished Aoihi.

"Next level," Yue asked. "How many levels are there?"

"There are three levels of strength with judging bending strength," replied Aoihi. "Currently, the three of you are at the first level, Elemental State. At this level you bend the most basic form of your element. What each of you are learning, anyone can learn with enough practice. The reason it comes to each of you so quickly is because of your Mindscape. The next level depends on what element you bend. Just as the Avatar has the Avatar State so do each of the elements. Firbenders have the Inferno State, Waterbenders have the Tsunami State, and Earthbenders have the Mountain State."

"So what, are our eyes going to start glowing like the Avatar's do?" Zuko interrupted.

"Not exactly, it will depend on how much strength you use. When you are in your state the more power you draw on the more your eyes will glow," replied Aoihi. "Take the Firebender and Earthbender, while they both cannot bend water it is possible to heat water up to where it is hot enough for a Firebender to bend the heat in the water and thus the water. If an Earthbender is surrounded by salt water, they can bend the salt and thus once more bend the water."

The three Champions were surprised by this. Sure they were able to do bend their elements in ways that didn't make any sense, but that was because most never allowed themselves to think beyond what was to what could be. But the thought of bending their element within another element was not only unheard of, but ludicrous.

"The final level is the Omni State," Aoihi continued. "At this level you combine your physical self and your spiritual self together."

"How do we do that?" Yue asked.

"Well, you see in order to do that," Aoihi began but was quickly cut off.

"We don't know," said Kiirojimen.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Zuko asked. If an Elder Spirit didn't know it would have to be something big.

"No one has ever met the qualifications to awaken the Omni State," Kiirojimen explained. "For several thousands of years we kept the Omni State unlocked, but when it became apparent to us that no one was going to reach it, we locked it away. Now, with the growing threat of the Varsealm we have decided to unlock it."

"What are the qualifications to reach this level?" Jin asked.

"First, you cannot be the Avatar," replied Akaimizu. "Second, it is possible to bypass the second level and go straight to the third level from the first level. However, it is recommended that you do not do that as you will have to be under a great amount of emotional trauma to do so. Third, when going to the third level from the second level you must be at peace within yourself, you must feel everything and feel nothing."

The young adults each raised an eyebrow at this. "So, how do we reach our second level then?" Yue asked for them.

"You must each undergo your own tests," replied Aoihi. "For you Prince Zuko; you must go before the Firebending Masters, the dragons. Not only must you pass their test, but you must gain their favor."

"The dragons are dead," Zuko countered.

"Are you sure about that?" Aoihi asked him. "Speak with your Uncle." She added, seeing Zuko's wide-eyed look.

"For you Princess Yue," Akaimizu began, "you must journey inward and confront the darkest corners of yourself."

Kiirojimen then stepped forward and faced Jin, "Jin, you have already started your growth into the Mountain State. Unlike fire and water, reaching the second level for earthbenders takes time. You must be like the mountains, firm and unwavering in your decisions."

"When did I start?" Jin asked curiously.

"During the fight with Aku, when you bent your own bones, is when you started," replied Kiirojimen.

"So, if I reach the second level I'll be able to do more," asked Jin.

"Yes," replied Akaimizu. "In fact each of you will be able to do so much more. Not only will you be stronger, but you will be able to train together in your mindscapes and even bring other people in. However, you must each reach the second level first."

The Elder Spirits than began to fade away, back to the Spirit World. The Champions stood in silence from a moment, before Zuko finally broke the silence. "Well, looks like we know what we're going to be doing for the upcoming week."

"What are you going to do?" Jin asked her boyfriend.

"I'm going to talk to Uncle Iroh about the Dragons and find out what I need to do," replied Zuko. He then turned to Yue and asked, "What about you Yue?"

"I'm going to take a day off work and confront my inner-self," Yue replied to her friend's question. "What about you Jin?"

"I'll just wait for the time to expire as Kiirojimen said it would take time," replied Jin. "Other than that, I'll continue to work at my job and my brothel."

The three young friends then bid their good-byes to each other and each headed in their own direction.

* * *

It was late as Iroh carefully attended to his bonsai tree in the apartment's window ledge garden. As the door to the apartment opened, he continued to work as he glanced at the apartment door to see his nephew walking in.

"How was your night, Zuko?" Iroh asked him.

"It was good, Uncle," replied Zuko, "rough but good."

The exiled prince walked over to his uncle and sat on the floor, leaning his back against the wall. "Uncle, where would I find the firebending masters, the dragons?" Zuko asked after a moment of comfortable silence.

Iroh was so surprised at his nephew's sudden question that he unintentionally cut the branch his was grooming on the bonsai tree. "Zuko you know that the dragons are gone," replied Iroh. "I killed the last dragon."

"I know you said you killed the last dragon," Zuko countered. "I also know that earlier tonight Aoihi appeared before me and said I would need to go before the masters. She also said you would know how."

Iroh breathed deeply for a moment before setting down the small shears and sitting across from his nephew. "It is true that I didn't kill the last dragon," Iroh began. "The dragons are the original teachers of firebending. It was dishonorable of Sozin to begin hunting the dragons. Understand this now, Zuko, when the masters judge they look into your soul and view your ancestry. Because of that, they may not be so happy to see you."

"But you passed their judgment."

"True, but you are not me," replied Iroh. "Here is what you need to know."

Iroh spent the next several hours instructing Zuko on where to find the masters and on what to do when he arrived.

* * *

Hearing a knock at her door, Xain exited the kitchen and went to answer in. Cautiously she opened the door and then opened it wide, once she saw her daughter's boyfriend standing outside. "Good morning, Lee," Xain greeted him.

"Good morning ma'am," replied Lee. "Is Jin up yet?"

"She should be," replied Xain as she closed the door behind Lee. "Has something happened?"

"Did she tell you about last night?"

"Yes about you each having to go through a test."

"Well my test requires a partner and I would like to ask Jin for help."

"Alright then, go on up," Xain said with a nod towards the stairs.

Zuko quietly trekked up the stairs to Jin's room; letting the other members of Jin's family go on about their morning routines and pausing only long enough to return the greeting Zena, Maro, and Kane gave him as their sifu. Once he arrived at Jin's door he knocked and waited a moment for Jin to answer.

"Zu-Lee, what are you doing here?" Jin asked as she opened her door and noticed him standing there.

"I'm here because I need your help," replied Zuko as he walked into Jin's room. "My test requires a partner and I would like your help."

"Okay. What do I need to do?"

"Pack some clothes, at least two days worth. I've got everything else," replied Zuko; indicating the pack he was currently carrying.

"Where are we going?" Jin asked as she started to pack.

"We're going to Drak Island, the home of the ancient Sun Warrior civilization," replied Zuko "It's in the Fire Nation."

"The Fire Nation?" Jin asked in surprise as she stopped packing and whirled around to face Zuko.

"Where else would you expect to find fire bending masters?" replied Zuko. Zuko pulled a small folded piece of paper out of his robes and unfolded it. "Look here," he said showing Jin that it was a map. "Here is Ba Sing Se and here is Drak Island," Zuko said as he indicated the distance. Drak Island appeared to be a rather small island located north and far to the east of the Fire Nation's main islands.

"Is it inhabited?" Jin asked him.

"Uncle Iroh said we'd find out when we got there," replied Zuko. "But there aren't any chances of us running into any soldiers. The way I see it we go over there, I do the test with your help, we spend the night, and then we're back here tomorrow afternoon."

"What about Yue?"

"I already talked to her. Yue is taking the day off doing her own test."

"Alright then. I guess we're going to the Fire Nation," replied Jin. She then turned around and finished her packing.

Fifteen minutes later the young couple was sailing through the air, heading east towards the Fire Nation and Ba Sing Se far behind them.

* * *

While her friends were off for Zuko to do his own test, Yue was starting her own test. She had just finished her shower and was now sitting on the floor starting to meditate.

'_How long is this going to take?_' Yue thought to herself after what felt like several hours of sitting on the floor. She had always been able to enter her mindscape easy; once she was deeply meditating the blackness would fade into her icy tundra training ground. Usually it was only a twenty minute wait, but this had been much longer than twenty minutes. Yue opened her eyes to find that she wasn't in her mindscape or even her apartment. In fact, she was in a place she had never seen before. It was dark and looked like a swamp, however it was far colder than she would have expected for a place she heard was suppose to be warm.

'_I guess I'm here,_' Yue thought as she stood up and looked around. All around her were trees and water. Suddenly from behind her a splash was heard. Yue whirled around and saw nothing but the rippling of the water. She frowned slightly, narrowed eyes looking to and fro. Seeing nothing she turned back around and jumped back in surprise at the figure that had snuck up behind her. Looking at the figure, Yue felt her heart stop. It was herself! In front of her was herself, as Princess of the Northern Water Tribe.

"Who are you?" Yue asked in a shock filled voice.

"I am the Moon Spirit, Tui," replied Tui.

"Why have you taken my appearance?" Yue asked confused as to why the spirit would look like her.

"It is not I who has taken your appearance, but you who have taken mine," replied Tui. She then narrowed her eyes and continued. "I'm here to take back what is mine."

"What are you taking back?" Yue asked trying her best to keep the quiver of worry out of her voice.

"Your life," replied Tui harshly.

* * *

High above the ocean Jin and Zuko flew on the platform of earth that Jin was controlling. Ba Sing Se was far behind them and soon they would be arriving to Drak Island home of the ancient Sun Warrior city.

"Any idea what you need to do?" Jin asked as she was curious as to what this test would require.

"Uncle said we'll need to go the main temple and learn something called '_The Dancing Dragon_'. Once we learn that, we are to sit and meditate as we wait to be brought before the masters," replied Zuko.

"Is something wrong Zuko?" Jin asked as she noticed how hard he seemed to be thinking.

"It's about founding out that the dragons are still alive." He replied as he turned his head to look at her.

"Isn't that a good thing and why wouldn't the dragons be around?"

"When the war began my great-grandfather, Fire Lord Sozin, began the tradition of hunting the dragons. The last dragon was said to have been killed years ago, by my Uncle. With the way Uncle Iroh spoke, I get the feeling that we'll not only meet the dragons but also the Sun Warrior civilization and nearly all records say that they died out thousands of years ago," replied Zuko. "I'm getting the feeling that we won't be so warmly received."

"But they let your Uncle in. Surely, they'll let you in," Jin countered.

"There's just one problem," began Zuko with a sigh, "I'm Ozai's son; not Azulon's."

"So?"

"Even though most of the war was during Fire Lord Azulon's rule; the past eight years of my father's rule have been even worse," replied Zuko. "That's why I don't think the Sun Warriors or the Firebending Masters will be overly eager to see me."

A moment of silence passed between the young couple, before Jin spoke once more. "Why did Fire Lord Sozin start hunting the dragons?"

"Dragons were seen as the ultimate firebenders," replied Zuko. "If you could conquer one your firebending talents would become legendary and you would gain the title, Dragon."

"So getting this title was enough for firebenders to start hunting the dragons?"

"Yes, it was," replied Zuko somberly. "It was just one of several titles to be gained in the Fire Nation, but it was the most coveted."

"What are some of the other titles?" Jin asked curiously.

"The only other titles that I can recall are Catudhatu, Ajña, and Beowulf," Zuko replied as he thought back to his old school lessons. "Catudhatu, is the title given to any citizen by the Fire Lord who is able to defeat a fully realized Avatar or defeat masters of Waterbending, Earthbending, Firebending, and Airbending at the same time. Basically a person has to overcome all four of the bending elements in the same fight; so far this has only happened five times in recorded Fire Nation history. Ajña, is the title given to a non-bender of the Fire Nation when they defeat a hundred benders at once. The only one who's earned the title recently is the sword master Piandao of Shu Jing. The last title is Beowulf and it's an interesting one."

"How's it interesting?"

"Legend tells that before Agni learned Firebending from the dragons he came upon a small island and it was on that island that the only other known species to bend fire, like the dragons, resided there. They were the beowulvess, a nocturnal animal that lived in small packs. Originally, Agni tried to learn from the beowulves, but he always fell asleep when trying to learn from them. So one night a beowulf came up to Agni and spoke to him, urging him to seek the dragons and explained that the dragons would be far better teachers for him to learn from. Agni went on his way to learn from the dragons, but never forgot the kindness of the beowulves. To honor them, a special title was made in their honor for all night-born firebenders. In the Fire Nation, firebender's abilities with bending are prejudged at what time they were born. The best are seen as those born at noon, as that's the time the sun is at its peak; from there, the closer to noon the better. It's viewed as weak to be born during the night and the worst night to be born is on a moonless night. The reason I told you this is because Beowulf is the title given to a firebender who was born at night and bests a Firebending master. Care to guess when I was born?"

"At night?"

"Yep and not just any night, but a moonless night; that was filled with storm clouds so that even the stars didn't shine. Needless to say, a lot of people were surprised that I could bend, but that didn't stop them from thinking that I was still weak. Especially, once Azula started bending."

"Are the beowulves still around?" Jin asked aloud.

"No they aren't around anymore," replied Zuko. "The beowulves weren't hunted like the dragons. The only known place in the entire world where they existed was that island and one day the island simply vanished without a trace."

The two continued soaring through the air on Jin's platform of earth as she thought about what Zuko had told her. She knew from her talks with Zuko that his sister, Azula, was the favored child of their father. And with her tendency, to roast the crap out of things; how could she not be? Jin swore that if she ever met the younger girl that she would bury the little sadist.

* * *

"My what," asked Yue with wide scared eyes.

"Your life," replied Tui. "It's mine and I'm here to take it back as I find you unworthy of having my life."

Without waiting for the girl to respond, Tui shot her arm forward and pierced Yue's stomach with her hand.

Yue herself cried out in pain as she felt her stomach being pierced. She could feel Tui's fingers wrapping around something inside of her and it wasn't flesh or bone. As the Moon Spirit began to pull out, Yue looked down and saw a small white light being pulled out of her. The brighter the light became and the more light there was the weaker Yue felt.

'_That's my life, isn't it?_' Yue thought to herself. '_She's pulling out my very soul._'

As her vision grew dark, Yue's mind began to reply her life in her head. She saw everything that she had done and experienced; her childhood, the loss of her mother, the invasion of the north, her death, resurrection, coming to Ba Sing Se, making real friends for the first time in her life, and finding love in the form of two beautiful women. Out of all the events, she stopped at one crystal clear moment and viewed it. It was a private conversation that she had had with her friend, Zuko, just days ago.

(_**Flashback**_)

_Yue looked down at the smooth cut she had just given the boulder that had previously been in front of her. She was in the training room of the Elemental Chamber and was busily working on improving her waterbending attacks. Even though, some would say the improvement wasn't really necessary; Yue wanted to be at the best of her combat skills. All it would take was one mistake for them to be taken out and defeating Aku and Shkiit had proven that._

"_What are you doing Yue?" asked a voice behind her._

"_Working on getting better," she replied as she turned her head back to look at her friend, Zuko. "We got our asses handed to us by Aku, Jin nearly died, and you were almost killed by Shkiit. If we're going to be a match against anyone for the rest of this war, we need to improve desperately."_

"_Why do we need to improve?" Zuko asked with a shrug. "We beat Aku and he was supposed to be some sort of insanely powerful spirit."_

"_No he wasn't. Aku was still in a weakened state. We beat him before he had his strength restored. Remember?"_

_The firebending Prince carefully thought back to everything he had been told about Aku. His eyes went wide as realization dawned on him. "Son of a bitch," Zuko spoke in a whisper._

"_Yep, that's about what I said," replied Yue. "I don't know about you, but I want to survive this war and enjoy the bit of freedom I'll have before I have to go back to the Northern Water Tribe."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_You know that's I'm a princess, right?" Seeing him nod, Yue continued, "When I return to the Northern Water Tribe. I will marry a man, who will lead the tribe and to continue the royal bloodline. Even though, I won't love him."_

"_What makes you say you won't love him? You could grow to love him over time."_

"_I have already given my heart and self to the ones I love," replied Yue._

"_What?" Zuko asked louder than normal, his eyes wide with shock._

"_Do you remember Lieu and Nu, from the club?" Yue asked him._

"_Yeah," replied Zuko. "You mean that…"_

_Blushing furiously, Yue nodded her head._

"_Oh, well… Congratulations I guess," Zuko replied awkwardly as talking about a friend's sex life was never his forte._

"_Why couldn't Lieu and Nu be with you in the Northern Water Tribe?" Zuko asked after a moment of silence._

"_Because being with a person of your same sex is forbidden in the tribe," Yue replied sadly. "It is my destiny to leave them, marry someone I won't love, and continue the line of my family."_

"_Is that your destiny or the destiny someone else has chosen for you?" asked Zuko._

_Yue turned her head towards her friend; wondering what he was getting at._

"_There are those who struggle against destiny and achieve only an early grave. There are those who flee destiny only to have it swallow them whole. There are those who embrace destiny and do not show their fear. Those are the ones who change the world forever. Yue, we stand on the precipice of change. War and death are approaching us from all sides. We cannot evade it, we cannot deceive it. Claim your destiny or be claimed by it, Yue. Prove your worth to the Northern Water Tribe and tell them how it's going to be. It's your life Yue, no one but you can live it and the destiny it encompasses."_

"_Thanks Zuko," Yue replied with a smile._

"_Anytime," replied the firebender as he walked away._

(_**End Flashback**_)

'_No!_' Yue screamed from the depths of her mind. Her eyes snapped open as her arms shot forward with the speed of a Viper Cobra Snake and grabbed a hold of Tui's arm. "This is my life bitch! It's not yours, an extension of yours, or even remotely connected to yours. Now, back off!" Yue said as she glared at the Moon Spirit hard enough to freeze fire. With a yell of rage, Yue slashed her right arm up at Tui; forcing the spirit back several yards with her bloodbending.

If Tui was surprised at Yue's sudden strength, she didn't show it as she said, "You are not worthy to live. You have abandoned your tribe's way of life and its expectations of you for the brief pleasures of two women."

"Who are you to decide if I am worthy of life or not?" Yue questioned. "For sixteen years of my life I did as I was asked. And now, when I decide to live my life for myself; suddenly, I'm not good enough to be alive. If I want to live, I live. If I want to take, I take. And if I want you to die, YOU DIE!" roared Yue as she sent a massive barrage of icicles to the moon spirit.

Reacting quickly, Tui shattered the icicles in midair forcing the once frozen spears of death, to fall harmlessly down into the water. "You didn't honestly think that would work did you?" Tui asked looking back at the princess.

"Actually, it worked perfectly," replied Yue with a smirk.

Tui looked down at herself to see that her tunic had been slashed in several places and a steady stream of blood was pooling around her feet in the water. This time there was a visible reaction from Tui as her eyes widened ever so slightly in shock. Then, just barely, she saw it; a shimmer of light. Looking closer one could just barely make out the hair-thin sheets of ice that hovered around Tui.

Looking back at Yue, Tui said, "You pathetic piece of trash, you doom your people for the sake of your own happiness. You must be stopped."

As Yue listened to Tui speak, her angry faded away. Peacefully, Yue looked at Tui and said, "I have given my life to my tribe. Everything I have done I have done for them. Even being here in Ba Sing Se, is to help end the war for my tribe. It's time my tribe gives me something back and I chose that thing to be who I want as my love in life. Good-bye Tui."

A loud roar of shattering ice filled the area and suddenly the mindscape shattered into nothing; leaving Yue in darkness.

"Now what?" Yue asked aloud as she looked around and saw nothing but the darkness.

"**Now, depends on you,**" a voice growled out from the darkness.

"Who are you?" Yue asked the voice.

"**I am your inner rage, the blade that cuts through the night, your peaceful killing,**" replied the voice. It then asked, "**What do you wish of me?**"

Yue thought for a moment before replying, "I want to protect my friends and loved ones. I want to be what I need to be to end this war."

"**Then say my name and embrace me,**" the voice roared.

"I embrace you… UNDA!" Yue yelled into the darkness.

A light flashed out and for a quick moment Yue saw a giant Sea Serpent before her. Everything became hazy and once her vision cleared Yue found herself back in her apartment. After a second of looking around, Yue looked down at herself and noticed that she looked completely different from before. Acting quickly, she froze some water to act as a full-length mirror. Looking at the water mirror she took notice of the vast difference in her appearance. First, her clothes were gone. She appeared to be covered in a snow white sheet that acted as her clothing and armor as well as her skin. Second, her hands and feet were gone. She just seemed to be hovering a little above the floor with a thick fog protruding slightly from the bottom of her dress body. Whenever she lifted up the dress to see her legs only more fog was revealed. Yue knew her legs and hands were still there in a sense. She could feel them and whenever she walked or moved her hands she could see movement from the appropriate appendage from under the skirt or sleeves. The most unusual thing about her new appearance was her face. The same whiteness that covered the rest of her body covered her face. She had no mouth and a bump to indicate a nose, but other than that it was like wearing a featureless mask. She now had two large dark blue almond eyes and her hair reached to just past her ass.

"This is my Omni State," Yue said aloud her voice now sounding like a flowing river.

Concentrating hard, Yue changed herself back to normal. Looking once again at the water mirror she saw that her appearance had indeed returned to normal. Her clothes, legs, hands, and face were all normal. However, her hair had stayed the same length.

"Well, that was interesting. I wonder how Zuko and Jin are doing," Yue asked aloud thinking of her friends.

* * *

Looking down from the small platform of earth, Jin and Zuko gazed at the sprawling ruins of the Sun Warriors' Ancient City.

"Uncle Iroh said we would need to go to Training Temple," Zuko said aloud as her pointed to a small building off to the side. Jin steered the earth down, so they could begin Zuko's own test with the Masters.

* * *

**Next Chapter: Trail of Fire**

**Well, the voting is over. In the end at 12 to 11 the rewrite of Spirits' Creed will not be happening. Unless, someone is able to make a good enough argument for it. With all of the people who voted, I would have thought that a few would have made an argument as to why I should do the rewrite, but none did.**

**Anyway please leave a review. I like to know what my readers think about my story so far.**


	12. Trail of Fire

**Spirits' Creed**

**Chapter 11: Trail of Fire**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender**

**I dedicate this chapter to my good friend, FireChildSlytherin5, as a belated birthday present to her.**

* * *

Looking at the statues in front of them, Jin asked aloud, "So we're supposed to follow the steps of these statues?"

"That's what Uncle said we'd need to do," replied Zuko.

The young couple had been able to get into the training temple, thanks to Iroh telling Zuko about a secret lever to open the door; so they wouldn't have to force it open with the Sun Stone. They were now inside the temple, standing behind the starting statues, preparing to follow them in movement. "Ready?" Zuko asked his girlfriend.

When Jin replied that she was, the couple began to move in careful synchronized steps. With each step they took, the tiles below their feet moved down. With the final movement, a soft rumble of stone was heard as a small pedestal rose from the ground. On top of the pedestal was a large golden bejeweled ornament shaped oddly like an egg.

"That's weird." Jin said as she stepped towards the golden egg.

"Don't touch it!" Zuko called after her.

"Why?"

"Uncle Iroh told me that the Sun Warriors booby-trapped the ornament's pedestal to catch thieves," explained Zuko. "As long as we don't touch the ornament or the pedestal, we should be okay."

Jin shrugged her shoulders in understanding and the two benders sat down to meditate. As the meditated they went into their respective mindscapes and began reviewing all that they had learned. Over the past month each had spent hours at a time training in their mindscape. Gaining years worth mastery, on techniques in only a short amount of time. They were stronger and faster than they ever were before; thanks to their actions trying to take down the ruthless tyranny of the Dai Li. And though they had taken down a couple of hundred Dai Li agents, several more hundred remained. The Dai Li were also becoming more aggressive due to their actions; oppressing the people even more. This however, only made the people cheer for them more. And not only were they putting a stop to the Dai Li's ways, but also to those who were capitalizing on the people's fears to make money for themselves using everything from fake rituals for warding off firebenders to weapons dealers and owners of breeding houses.

A sudden noise from outside broke the two from their meditative states and as they opened their eyes they saw that they had been surrounded by several Sun Warriors each of them holding a deadly spear at them and a few watching them gaudily.

"Why are you here outsiders?" asked a man standing to the right of a larger man who's upper-half of his face was painted red and was wearing a crown of yellow feathers.

"My name is Zuko, I'm the Prince of the Fire Nation. I've come to see the Masters and face their test," replied Zuko.

"A likely story," replied the man. "More likely you're here to steal Sun Warrior treasure."

"Silence, Ham Ghao." Spoke the larger man. "Their coming was foretold."

"You cannot expect me to believe that this… this… this boy is really the Fire Nation's Prince."

"I can and I am," replied the man. Looking at Zuko he continued, "I am the Sun Warrior Chief Hocho. Your coming was told to us by the Elder Spirit of Fire."

"I was told of the Sun Warriors and the Masters from my Uncle," Zuko explained.

"Yes, Iroh was the last outsider to face the Masters. I presume he told you what to expect?" Hocho asked the young prince.

"Iroh told me everything," replied Zuko.

The Sun Warrior Chief glanced at Jin for a moment before turning his gaze back to Zuko. "When the Masters judge you they will read your hearts, your souls, and your ancestry. If they deem you worthy they shall teach you; if not, then they shall destroy you on the spot."

"I have to do this." Zuko stated in a voice of confidence. If he couldn't face to masters, he'd never be able to face his sister.

"Follow me then." Chief Hocho replied as he turned to walk out of the temple. The warriors holding the spears relaxed them and followed their chief out to begin the outside's test.

* * *

Back in Ba Sing Se, Yue was once again in her mindscape. "The Elder Spirits said that when the next level of bending was unlocked that there would be new techniques to learn. I wonder that they are?" Yue said to herself. She then called aloud, "Show me all the new techniques."

Slowly, like a roaring wave the new information appeared. Yue stared at it all, her eyes wide with surprise. "Let's see we've got; Mud: the Child of Water and Earth, Flash Freeze, Freezing Fire, Coping with Having to Kill, The Complete Weapons Styles, Merging Mindscapes, Unknown Water Techniques, Moving Chi: The Energy of All and Survival," Yue spoke aloud reading off some of the new things to learn and study. "I guess I'll start with the Merging Mindscapes. I hope Zuko is having a good time with his test."

Looking around her mindscape once more; Yue than began her new lesson.

* * *

For several hours the two had been walking each carrying a piece of the Eternal Flame. After been led out of the temple, Zuko and Jin had been taking to the chamber that housed the Eternal Flame and were told that in order to learn from the Masters they would both have to take a piece of the flame to the base of two mountain peaks. Since Jin wasn't a Firebender she very carefully used earth; constantly letting the ashes fall as she called up new earth to keep the fire going. As they closed in on the base of the mountain Jin spoke up. "Do you think you'll be able to pass the Masters' test?"

"I hope so," replied Zuko. "If not, we may have to fight our way out."

"Think we'll be able to?"

"My firebending has never been stronger and you're the strongest Earthbender I know. I think we can take a couple of dragons."

"I hope you're right," replied Jin.

Moments later the two had arrived at the summit of the mountain and were surprised to find the Sun Warriors had already arrived and were waiting for them. Chief Hocho walked up to them and spoke, "Facing the judgment of the Masters will be dangerous your line is directly responsible for the death of the dragons. They Masters may not be happy to see you." And with that, he proceeded to a piece of each of their flames and passed it to the two beside him to start passing the flame from one firebender to the next.

The young couple followed behind the chief. "Let's do this," said Zuko as they began to climb the steps of the altar. As they climbed chanting could be heard starting below them. Once they reached the top the chanting stopped and a loud voice called out, "Those who wish to meet the Masters Ran and Shaw will now present their fire." They each turned to face a different cave as a loud horn was blasted down below. A moment later the ground shook, hard. This shaking caused Jin to look closer at the cave before her. She nearly jumped out of her skin when a massive red dragon came flying out. Seconds later the red dragon was joined by a blue dragon.

"So, still think we can fight our way out?" Jin asked quietly.

"No. We're screwed, if this goes bad," replied Zuko. "These things are huge. Their mouths are bigger than the entire body of the Avatar's Sky Bison."

Looking back and forth at the dragons for a moment, Jin spoke. "I think they want us to do the Dragon Dance."

"What makes you think they want us to dance?"

"Well, they want us to do something. Let's just try it."

As the two began to dance the dragons began to change their movements and follow along with them. Once the dance ended, both Zuko and Jin were each staring at a dragon. The golden eyes of the massive predators bore down on them, looking through them. Ran and Shaw then landed on either side of the altar and opened their mouths wide, allowing a large blast of fire to issue forth. The flames swirled around each other; encasing Zuko and Jin in a twister of fire.

Jin looked up and was amazed at what she saw. There were so many colors to see; reds, yellows, oranges, blues, greens, purples, and colors that she had never even seen. Colors she couldn't even describe. All of the sights before her brought a strange feeling deep within her. Being here, with Zuko, it brought a sense of calmness and peace to her soul. Looking into the blaze she realized what this feeling was. '_He's my one. My one true love, who I want to spend the rest of my days with,_' she thought to herself.

* * *

While Jin was having her revelation on her views of her relationship with Zuko. Zuko was having a much different one. It was mainly different in the fact that he was no longer at the altar. Looking all around him, Zuko saw that he was in a field with several large boulders about. "Jin?" He called out for her. "JIN!" He yelled louder after receiving no reply.

"She won't here you," replied a voice behind him.

Zuko whirled around to find two people standing behind him. The first was a man with long red hair and wearing red armor. Next to the man, was a woman with short blue hair; wearing a loose blue kimono. "Who are you and where are we?"

"We are Ran," the woman replied indicating to herself, "and Shaw," she finished indicating to the man next to her.

"We are in your mindscape for your test," Shaw replied.

"What is my test?" Zuko asked the dragons.

"To beat us," Ran replied right before thrusting her arm out and releasing a powerful blast of fire in front of Zuko.

The force of the blast was so strong that is sent Zuko hurtling back slamming him into a boulder. From the dust cloud of Ran's blast Shaw burst forth and covered the distance between them in less than a second. '_Shit,_' Zuko thought as he ducked down and threw himself to the right as Shaw shot his hand forward. Shaw's hand was flat, fingers extended, like a knife when the tips of his fingers struck the boulder where Zuko's neck had been and left a five inch crater.

Using his hands, Zuko quickly flipped himself away wanting to put some distance between himself and Ran and Shaw. '_Okay Zuko, think! You're dealing with two very powerful, very experienced, and very ruthless when it comes to fighting dragons. Now, how do you beat them?_' At that moment the ground shook, preventing Zuko from finishing his thoughts as he began running again. A second later from where he had been standing a geyser of lava erupted from the ground. '_I don't know who I should hate more, Uncle or Aoihi. Well, I'm sure if Uncle had had this happen to him; he would have told me._'

* * *

And so, for hours Zuko fought against Ran and Shaw. Constantly diving, ducking, running, and throwing whatever fire he could back at them. All the while, Ran and Shaw never seemed to so much as break a sweat or show any sign of starting to be worn down. While Zuko, felt like he was about to collapse.

"I don't know how you plan to win like this Prince Zuko," Shaw called out across the damaged field. "Your ancestors have a long history of fighting. They've been called everything from saviors and champions to monsters and demons, but none have ever run. You won't last much longer and that girl has even less time."

"What do you mean?" Zuko called back with a hint of anger. He wasn't about to let harm come to Jin.

"What is the one thing fire needs to burn, Prince Zuko?" Shaw asked.

"Air," replied the prince; everyone in the Fire Nation knew that. If a fire got big enough all it need was air to continue to burn.

"While we are here in your mindscape fighting, our bodies are still blasting out that twister of fire," Shaw explained. "And once all that air is gone…"

'_Jin won't have any air to breathe and if she can't breathe, she dies._' Zuko realized in shocked horror. The longer he was in here to closer Jin was to dying. '_Time to end this._'

Blasting his fire from his feet, Zuko shot himself high into the air. As he soared higher, Zuko began to power up his most powerful attack; the same one he used on Aku. Once more, forcing the lightning to build up in his hand, Zuko separated his energies as much as he could to build up an even greater attack. Spotting Shaw below him, Zuko hurled himself down towards the dragon going faster than he had ever gone before. All around him things seemed to fade from existence, until all Zuko could see was Shaw.

Once he was less than ten feet from Shaw, Zuko shot his arm forward for the extra striking strength against his opponent. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be. The prince's eyes widened in both shock and awe as Ran seemed to just appear before him and with lightning fast reflexes, grabbed his striking hand. '_That's impossible,_' Zuko screamed in his mind; as even the slightest touch against something when performing the Lightning Lance would set the attack off. And yet, Ran had grabbed hold of his hand and kept his attack from releasing.

'_NO NO NO NO,_' Zuko yelled in his mind as Ran used his momentum to her advantage and flipped him over her. As Zuko was coming down on the other side, Ran pulled back her leg and shot it into Zuko's stomach hard; effectively ending all thoughts he was having and causing him to spit up blood as he sped away due to the force of the kick. Zuko had been hit with such force that his body smashed through a boulder that had been in the way.

"That looked quite painful," Shaw commented as he watched the after effects of the boulder. Glancing at Shaw he asked, "Was that necessary?"

"The prince has the fortitude and passion that can be found in any hatchling," Ran replied in her cool even voice. "However, he has yet to understand the point of this lesson. So I've decided to make it easier for him. Besides, I wasn't about to let that attack hit you."

"You know as well as I do that that attack would have done very little damage to me, if any at all," replied Shaw in a laugh. "You just didn't want him to touch me. I love it when you get possessive of me, Ran."

"Don't flatter yourself."

"Oh, right of course not. I suppose then that that was some other blue-scaled female I had underneath me roaring my name last week."

Ran's head turn to look at Shaw so fast that a crack was heard throughout the air. Seeing her mate's smirking face, Ran narrowed her eyes and said, "I am so going to beat your ass when this is over."

"Such naughty language for a mother to have. What would the children say?"

Rolling her eyes at Shaw's stupidly, Ran tore off through the air in the direction of Zuko's body. The sooner she finished this, the sooner she could start teaching Shaw the error in angering the mother of his children.

Zuko's body hit the ground hard; over and over his form tumbled. During the process his hand touched the ground releasing the Lightning Lance; ripping the ground apart as he came to a stop. As he laid on the ground his body spasmed in pain as he coughed up blood. '_I can't do it,_' Zuko thought to himself. '_I can't beat them they're just to strong for me. I've failed, but at least Jin will be safe._'

As Zuko forced himself up on his knees, his body moving slowly due to the pain, he saw Ran closing in fast. "I yield," Zuko gasped out, blood flowing out, as Ran's fist nearly struck him.

"What did you say?" Ran asked, her fist mere inches from Zuko's nose.

"I yield," Zuko repeated in a slightly clearer voice. "I concede, I surrender, I give up! I'm not strong enough to beat you. I've failed, but I will not let Jin die for my inability to beat you." Zuko stared down at the ground in shame as he breathed heavily.

"You pass."

Zuko slowly looked up to see Ran and Shaw smiling at him. "Wha-," he gasped out. "I don't understand. I failed to defeat you both in combat."

"Hatchling, we are two thousand six hundred and seventy-six years of living. You never stood a chance of beating us in combat," replied Shaw. "A few more years and you'll defiantly start to be a contender for beating us."

"The test was about beating us in surrendering," Ran explained. "Since you yielded the fight to us, you won. The greatest victory is when a man chooses not to fight. When you must, fight with everything you have for victory; but when you can, stay your hand and choose not to fight. Do you understand?"

Zuko, who was feeling much better with his body instantly healed, nodded his head in agreement.

"For your excellence in facing us in combat, we want to give you something." Shaw said as he walked forward. He placed his hand on his abdomen and pulled out what appeared to be an orb of fire. "This is a technique that has been lost for countless ages and now I give it to you." With his fast reflexes, Shaw shoved the orb into Zuko abdomen and then pushed it in.

Zuko watched in awe as the orb seemed to melt into him. "Is that all?" he asked the dragons.

"There are two more things," replied Ran. "From this day forth you are Zuko, Dragon of the East. The final reward will have to wait until we are out of the mindscape.

Recalling what they had said about Jin, caused Zuko to forget about the title they had just given him. "Jin, is she okay?" He asked hurriedly.

"Calm yourself, Hatchling," replied Ran as the mindscape began to vanish, but not before Ran's final words were heard. "Your mate is perfectly safe."

* * *

Zuko's eyes widened as he absorbed what Ran had just said as he saw the fire dissipate and Ran flying back into her cave. Realizing that he was no longer in his mindscape, Zuko turned around to see his girlfriend turning around to face him as well.

"That was…That was just wow." Jin spoke as she couldn't put into words what she felt.

"Yeah," replied Zuko as he felt the same.

The two began the long climb down the steps and as they were nearly at the bottom, Zuko spoke again. "Their fire was so beautiful. I saw so many colors. Colors I had never even seen. Colors I had never even imagined."

"It was like harmony with fire." Jin added.

"Yes," replied Chief Hocho. "They judged you and gave you visions of the true meaning of fire and thus firebending"

"I can't believe there are still living dragons." Zuko said as he looked up at the Chief. "My Uncle Iroh said he faced the last dragon and killed it."

"So your uncle lied." Jin reasoned.

"Actually, it wasn't a total lie," Chief Hocho explained. "Iroh was the last outsider to face the masters. They deemed him worthy and passed the secret onto him as well."

"He must have lied to protect them, so no one else would hunt them." Zuko said with realization.

"Now that you have learned the secrets and you know about our tribe's existence, we have no choice but to imprison you here forever," Hocho spoke to the couple in a voice of complete seriousness. Upon seeing the young couple's look of shock he broke into a smile and said, "Just kidding. But seriously, don't tell anyone."

At this moment, Ran had reemerged from her cave and landed behind the young couple. Zuko and Jin turned around to see the dragon placing a medium-sized trunk down by Zuko before flying back into her cave.

"Seems like Ran has given you one of her treasures for your wedding." Hocho said as he looked at the trunk.

"OUR WHAT?" Jin and Zuko both yelled aloud as they spun to face the Sun Warrior Chief.

With a small look of surprise on his face, Hocho looked between the two before saying, "You said 'Iroh told you everything.' I thought you knew then that if a man and woman took the master's test together and passed that they would be married. By the law the two of you are now man and wife."

* * *

Katara snapped her head up suddenly and looked around the room with a careful eye.

"What's up?" asked Toph from the other side of the room, who had felt Katara's sudden movement.

"I thought I heard something," replied Katara.

"What?"

"I thought I heard Zuko; screaming."

"Seriously?" Toph asked with a raised eyebrow. "You're obsessing way to much on this guy, Sugar Queen. It's always Zuko this or Zuko that with you. So what, was he your first crush or something?"

"What? No!" Katara nearly shrieked in surprise.

"I can tell your lying," replied Toph in a singsong tone.

"Whatever Toph," replied Katara as she stood up to start making a late lunch.

* * *

The trip back to the Sun Warrior city seemed much shorter than it had going to meet the masters. Once they had arrived back, Zuko and Jin were rather nice spacious room for their first night together. At the far end of the room there was a circular bed that sunk into the ground and was covered with large comfortable pillows and silk blankets. Zuko and Jin were now sitting on the bed, each thinking about what to do.

Finally, Zuko broke the long going silence between them. "We don't have to let anyone know what happened here."

"Hmm?" Jin asked as she turned her head towards him with a look of confusion.

"This marriage, we don't have to tell anyone that we got married," Zuko explained. "It was unexpected and thrust upon us, we've never talked about where we wanted our relationship to go or even if we wanted it to get married, and I can't ask you to give up your home and your life in the Earth Kingdom for me."

"Actually, I don't mind," replied Jin. "You're right that we've never talked about where our relationship was going, but I want it to lead to marriage. It will be hard, but I can give up my life in the Earth Kingdom; because I know would do the same for me. However, I won't ask that of you as your people, no our people, need us. So, I shall be the one who gives up their life."

Zuko knew she was right. If she would ask it of him, he would leave his old life behind and spend the rest of it serving tea; just as long as it meant he could stay with her. However, it would also tear apart inside as to what he would be doing to his people. "You can't mean that, Jin. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into."

"Then tell me." Jin replied.

"Jin, I've killed people," Zuko began. "I know you have as well and we've both seen each other kill. But not like this. I wasn't always relaxed like this. During my banishment, as I searched for the Avatar, I killed those would stand in my way. Can you be with a man who has killed your fellow countrymen?"

"Did you kill them out of joy?" Jin asked. Seeing Zuko shake his head, she continued, "You kill out of necessity, Zuko. I have never known you or felt that you have killed for enjoyment."

"What about the Fire Nation?" Zuko countered. "If you become the Fire Lady, you will have to support the Fire Nation and all of the decisions you make will have to benefit the people of the Fire Nation."

"I realize this and I believe that I can help you even more with this," replied Jin smoothly. "You and I both come from different walks of life and have experienced many things. I believe that together we can use our experiences to help the Fire Nation. It's going to be a long road, but it is one that we can walk together."

By now, Zuko was mentally grasping at straws as to why he and Jin shouldn't be married. Nearly more than anything in the world, he wanted to marry Jin. More than that however, he didn't want to bring pain into her life. "What about the fact that you would be getting a tainted husband?" He asked in a last ditch effort.

"Zuko, you aren't your father-" Jin began, but was interrupted by Zuko.

"I don't mean that," began Zuko. "Jin, I have lain with another woman. It was during my banishment on the night of my fourteenth birthday. We had just finished exploring the Air Temples and were soon going to voyage to the northern parts of the Earth Kingdom. Uncle talked me into letting the men have a day of relaxation, so we pulled into port and let the men off. Later, as the sun was setting, I noticed that none of the men had returned and I wanted to get an early start the next morning, so I went searching for them. After an hour or so of walking around and talking with the town's folk, I found that the men were all in the same building. I didn't know it at the time, but that building was a brothel. Some of the women didn't like the ruckus I was causing trying to get the men to head back to the ship, so they carried me to an empty room and proceeded to educate me on the importance of relaxation. Long story, short; I woke up the following morning in bed with the four women I had been having sex with the night before."

Jin looked at Zuko with calm relaxed eyes. "Zuko, that doesn't bother me. I've also been with a few women. Mostly, I was with, Maki, my friend from work. The two of us did all kinds of things together; we had even planned on losing our virginities together to the same guy. In fact, that guy was going to be you. The day I was going to bring it up with her, Maki didn't show up for work and well, we all know what happened to her."

"But Jin-" Zuko tried to start, but was quickly cut off by Jin; who had thrown herself on top of him, pressing her beautiful full lips against his in a savagely erotic kiss as their tongues mated one with the other.

**(Warning lemon ahead. If you don't like, don't read.)**

Jin eventually broke the kiss and slid off Zuko as she took several deep breaths before speaking, "I don't care about that Zuko. You need to stop thinking about what other people want and ask yourself, what do you want? Not the prince, not the refuge, and not the champion, but what does Zuko, just Zuko, want?"

Taking her words to heart, Zuko thought about what Jin had said. Most of his life, he had to make exceptions and more often than not was unable to keep something for himself; especially after his mother disappeared. As he looked at Jin, in her slightly disheveled appearance with a slight blush against her bronzed cheeks, he thought of everything they had been through, he thought of how he felt about her, and he thought of life without her.

With speed that had surprised her, Zuko had launched herself at Jin and captured her lips again as she landed back on the pillows and silk sheets. "I want you," said Zuko as he momentarily broke the kiss, before kissing her full and throbbing lips once more. He broke the once more, saying, "Of everything in this world, I would give all of it up; if it meant I could have you."

As Zuko captured her lips again, Jin rolled them over, pinning Zuko underneath herself. Jin broke the kiss as she straddled Zuko's waist, sitting on top of him. Jin held him back as he tried to kiss her once more. Seeing the questioning look in her lover's eyes, Jin asked, "So, you want me?"

"Yes," replied Zuko. "I want you more than anything in the world."

Hearing his reply, Jin began to loosen the tie of her green robe. She then, threw the green robe off to the side leaving her heavy voluptuous breasts trapped within her tight, green, cotton brassiere. Taking hold of the knot, between her sweetly curved mounds, that was holding the brassiere in place; Jin began to slowly pull it, taking a small amount of pleasure in feeling a growing bulge from her lover prodding against her ass. Within moments, the brassiere was off brazenly exposing Jin's heavy, round, pert breasts to Zuko.

The light from the nearby torches danced across the surface of her bronzed skin and gleamed brightly as it was reflected off her gold nipple rings. "If you want me," Jin said as she looked down at Zuko, "Then _claim me_, Husband."

Lifting himself up to her, Zuko wrapped his arms around Jin's naked back and leaned up to kiss her. But as he did so, Jin stopped him saying, "As much as I enjoy kissing you, Zuko, I've wanted you to get well acquainted with my breasts, since our second date." Jin ran her fingers through his thick, black hair and positioned his head at her chest.

With his eyes full of Jin's plump, swollen bounty; Zuko did as she wanted and began to kiss, lick, and gently bite the incredibly hot, silky, taut skin before him. Soon, Zuko's lips arrived at the dark aching peak; that was one of Jin's nipples. He quickly captured the hardened flesh and metallic ring between his lips and began to suckle. He sucked her gently at first and then began to suck harder and faster; causing her chest to vibrate and jiggle at Zuko's actions. He would then stop and run his tongue over the dark caramel nipple, before capturing the small nipple ring with his teeth and pulling back a bit. While Zuko gave all this attention to Jin right breast, He hadn't forgotten about her left breast. All the while he was kissing and sucking, Zuko had captured the left breast in his right hand. He gently squeezed and kneaded the mound of flesh as it spilled over his hand. Zuko lovingly stroked and massaged the glistening breast, before carefully pinching the nipple as he pulled at the other one.

Jin herself was in total bliss. Having been born with sensitive pleasure sensors and a slight turn-on of pain; she was in an euphoria of joy. With waves of pleasure coursing through her body, Jin gripped her lover's hair as she thrust herself against him. With each thrust, Jin could feel the growing moistness between her legs dampen her cotton panties even more.

Recalling what he had learned in briefly training with purple fire, better known as Pleasure Fire, Zuko grabbed Jin's breasts and positioned her swollen nipples in front of his mouth. He then breathed out, releasing a small stream of bright purple fire. Like the Training Fire, the Pleasure Fire doesn't burn; it increases the pleasure felt by sensitive areas of the receiver's body by a hundred fold.

Jin grasped Zuko's hair and held tightly as an uncontrollable tidal wave of pleasure sent tremors of ecstasy throughout her being. The world turned white for Jin as she felt herself spew forth like a geyser, while screaming her husband's name to the heavens, "ZZZUUUKKKOOO!"

A few minutes later, once enough of the sexual bliss had worn off for her to think clearly, Jin asked, "What was that?"

"That was the Pleasure Fire," replied Zuko. "I presume you enjoyed it?"

"Immensely so," she replied with a grin. "But I want to feel you inside me _now_, Zuko."

As she leaned back, Jin removed her skirt and soaked panties; leaving herself completely bare and naked before Zuko's eyes for the first time. Propping herself up against the pillows, Jin spread her legs wide to her husband. Carefully, she positioned her legs to form around her; with her feet resting behind her head. This position gave Zuko a perfect view of her shaved pulsating core.

Zuko would never admit it to anyone, except Jin, but he found the view before him to be rather intoxicating. The shape of his wife's body as she exposed herself to him, the soaked flesh of her womanhood, the way the lips of her vulva looked remarkably like a ripened peach-pear that was waiting to be pierced by him. Zuko found all of this and more about Jin's appearance stunningly beautiful. Feeling that it wasn't right that she be the only one naked, he began to remove his clothes.

Jin watched with great desire in her eyes as Zuko stripped before her. He quickly shed his outer robe, before lifting up his shirt. Jin's eyes gleamed with desire as Zuko's well formed muscled abs came into view, followed by his steely chest and was finished off with his strong broad shoulders. Her husband was truly a firm, sleek, slender body of masculinity and he was all hers. Well, all hers and who ever she decided to share him with.

As he pulled his pants and underpants off Zuko knelt down and once the garments were off, he sat up on his knees giving Jin her first look at pulsating manhood.

Staring wide-eyed at her husband's shaft the only thing Jin could say was, "Damn."

"What? Is there something wrong with it?" Zuko hurriedly asked. Sure he had had sex with four women, but it was only that one time and none of them had reacted the way Jin had. In fact, they had gone rather silent once they saw his manhood.

"You're big, Zuko," replied Jin. "And I mean big. I don't have a measuring tape with me, but you've got to be somewhere between ten and eleven inches long and that's not even taking into account your thickness. I know I won't be able to fit all of you in me; fuck I doubt I'll even be able to fit half of you in me."

"Is that good or bad?" Zuko asked, not knowing which category his size went into.

"It's very good," replied Jin quickly. "How could you not know that?"

"Let's see, I've spent most of my adolescences on the sea and I've never been in a situation to compare the size of my member to that of another man's," Zuko replied.

"Well, come on love. I want you to burst my cherry."

Zuko moved closer and gently grasped Jin's hips as he claimed her.

Jin was unable hold it in, as she screamed in pleasure and pain. Pain from having her hymen taken and pleasure from the orgasm that came from it. Once the pain had lessened, Jin signaled to Zuko that she was ready and slowly began to moan and scream in a sweet rapture of pleasure as her body wonderfully accepted her husband into her.

After several minutes of being wildly thrusted into, Jin cried out in ecstasy as love's sweet lava spewed forth from her, drenching her husband's neither regions and lower abs. Three more times this happened and on the third, Zuko joined her. Calling out her name loudly as he erupted into her, firing shot after shot of his seed deep into her womb; warming her insides.

For several hours after that, the young married couple engaged in various acts of sexual intercourse with each other as they explored each other's bodies. After many hours, they finally collapsed on the pillows and sheets exhausted, but happy.

(**End lemon. Virgin eyes my return.**)

"So, how was that _Princess Jin_?" Zuko asked his wife.

"Princess?" Jin asked between breathes of air.

"Yes, Princess," replied Zuko. "We're married now, so that makes you a Princess. In fact your full title is Princess Jin, wife of Prince Zuko, daughter of Xain Ansatsu-sha."

"Nice," replied Jin as she nodded her head. "Well, to answer your original question; I loved it. That felt…, it was.., I don't know how to describe it, but it was the best and if that's what I get as a princess; I'm looking forward to being Fire Lady."

Zuko chuckled in response.

"Hey Zuko?" Jin asked as she turned to face her husband. "What's going to happen to my girls?"

"One of three things," replied the young prince. "First, you can give them eliminate their service to you. I doubt that'll happen, as the girls seem to like you to much to want to leave. Second, You can continue business in the Fire Nation. This will be somewhat hard to do as you'll be Fire Lady. Third, and the one I think you'll be going for, they can become the Fire Lord's concubines. The Fire Lord's concubines are chosen by the Fire Lady and are her lady's in waiting. It is their duty to prepare the Fire Lady for her day, receive her husband, and provide children for marriage alliances; which we're going to need."

"That does sound like the best solution," replied Jin. "Let's sleep on it some."

Zuko then put out the torches and pulled Jin closer to him as they fell into the land of dreams.

* * *

The sun was starting to set as Ling and Mar walked along the streets of the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se.

"Are you sure we're in the right place?" Mar asked her companion.

"Yes," replied the older woman. "Mistress said that if we ever had any trouble to let Kimiko know. Now come on, we have to hurry."

The two quickened their pace along the busy streets of the city.

* * *

Yue sighed as she stretched herself out; it hadn't been an enjoyable walk home from work.

As she walked home, she became cornered by three bounty hunters that had been sent to take her back to the Northern Water Tribe. She easily defeated the three and gave them a harsh warning; if they ever came after her again, she'd send their severed heads back north.

Yue was quickly brought out of her thinking, by a knock from her door. She stood up and cautiously opened the door. Upon seeing who it was she opened the door completely saying, "Ling, Mar, what can I do for you this evening?" As she ushered them inside.

"We have a problem, Kimiko," replied Mar.

"We can't stay long, but here's the gist of the problem," began Ling. "A few hours ago one of the rich ranchers from the Outer Ring comes in and demands the woman in charge. I told him that was me and he said that as the owner of the brothel, I would service him and do as he said. I then, foolishly, said that I was the one in charge, not the owner. He then demanded Mistress Taja, saying that he would make her his whore. When I told him that wouldn't happen, he proceeded to throw me through a wall so hard that I hit the opposing wall on the other side. He then left saying, that if the owner wasn't hear by dawn tomorrow morning that he'd tear the place apart."

"We need this man, taken care of," said Mar as she handed a small folded piece of paper to Yue.

The two women than quickly took their leave.

Yue read over the paper, learning everything there was to know on her target.

* * *

As the sun rose over the grassy fields of the Outer Ring, Juria, a breeder of prize winning Ostrich-Horses, began to awaken. He was a large strong man, who was a skilled earthbender. Over the years, for providing Ostrich-Horses for the Dai Li, he'd been able to start accumulating a vast amount of wealth and was able to take what he wanted. What he wanted now was the sweet heavenly body of Taja to warm his bed and pleasure him whenever he wanted it.

Becoming more awake, he felt something warm surrounding him. It couldn't be urine as it had a metallic smell to it. Pushing back the covers a little he saw that his hands were in a red sticky substance. The more he pushed back the covers, the more the substance grew. Finally, with one great yank, he threw the covers of his bed and stared in horror at what he saw.

In bed with him, were the fourteen severed heads of his Ostrich-Horses. He then screamed and screamed and screamed in anguish and rage as his lively hood had just been ripped from him. As he ran from the room, he never noticed a razor sharp ribbon thin strand of water hanging across the door. So, when his body turned left; his head went right.

* * *

'_You shouldn't have tried to cross the wrong people, Juria,_' thought Yue as she carefully snuck out and went on her way. There was so much that needed to be done and so little time to do it in.

* * *

**There you are folks. Both Zuko and Jin's tests and a Zuko/Jin lemon. I've got a nice digital cookie for the one who can guess what Jin's test was.**

**Well, please leave a review telling me what you think.**

**Next Chapter: Fall of Ba Sing Se part 1**


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